The Love Drug
by Entrance Denied
Summary: 'I'd like you to consider the fact that no matter how immune a person may appear to the effects of the "love drug", absolutely no-one, NO-ONE is safe.' - Perhaps I am truly the only 'safe' person on the planet. SasuNaru AU
1. Sasuke 1

_AN: Apologies, I have no idea what brought on this bout of insanity but here you go. Enjoy. Any questions regarding anything you might find in this or later chapters, just PM me and I'll try to get back to you at least semi-promptly.  
_

_Warning: SasuNaru. First person POV, multi-character fic. I will be oscillating between Sasuke's POV and Naruto's POV, aiming to alternate chapters. To avoid confusion, each chapter will simply have a number and the person who's POV I'm currently writing in as the chapter title. _

_Initial grammar check completed but it was only a quickie. If you happen to spot anything that bothers you, just let me know. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto_

* * *

**1: Sasuke**

When Ibiki smirks like that, I know that we're in for a tough time. Normally, his face is pressed into a rigid mask of boredom as he repeats for what must be the hundredth time the important information we'll need to make it through the Biology exam gradually looming before us like an island in a misty sea. He has only smiled like this a handful of times, one memorable occasion being when Sabaku Gaara burnt off his eyebrows following a particularly terrifying incident with a highly unstable chemical formula and a Bunsen burner.

So yes, the following proceedings are probably going to inspire nightmares.

"I thought we'd have a little change of pace today," Ibiki begins, allowing his smirk to widen as he watches some of the students at the front of the class cringe. Gaara pointedly covers his forehead where his eyebrows have still failed to grow back.

"Instead of continuing on our current course, because I'm sure all of you are more or less over-prepared for this exam by now, I thought we'd look into something _fascinating._"

Oh God.

"Love."

The word rolls off of his lips like something rich, delicious and velvety, inspiring a ripple of curiosity and, yes, excitement amongst my peers. I breathe in slowly, allowing the air to circulate through my system before I relax and fix Ibiki with a disapproving scowl.

Love.

I haven't even heard what he has planned and already, with just the mention of that word, I've dismissed this lesson as completely pointless. If only Ibiki had thought to give us prior warning of the topic, I would have skipped out in a heartbeat.

Love.

This is a science class and I can define love in its scientific terms, spout off the chemicals that are released to promote the feeling of 'love' between two enamoured people. Aside from that, how is this topic relevant to my studies? If Ibiki is doing this to be nice before we're thrown into our exam, I'd have rather continued with the usual gruelling course material thank you very much.

"Now, first off, who here believes in love at first sight?"

There's a pause and a few people raise their hands. Interestingly, Gaara is one of the people that allows his hand to grace the air but then I suppose it's to be expected considering he has the character for love tattooed on his forehead like a statement. I pointedly keep my hand down.

I believe in lust at first sight.

That is something completely different.

And, if left uncontrolled, completely moronic.

Ibiki's eyes lock with mine and I feel dread pooling in my system. What could he possibly want to call me out on because lets face it, if a teacher meets your eyes, he's going to call you out for something?

"I see that Sasuke doesn't believe in love at first sight, care to tell us why?"

I stare at him and he merely beams back at me, his eyes endlessly amused. If the threat of expulsion didn't hang over my head, I'd be tempted to head to the front of the class just to backhand him for such ridiculousness.

Harsh? Yes, but I don't tolerate nonsense well.

"Love is simply the onset of various chemicals in our system to produce a reaction and encourage us to pro-create," I spew out heartlessly, not missing a beat. "I believe that one person can feel attracted to another during a first encounter but it can hardly be called 'love at first sight'"

Ibiki's nodding like he agrees with me but he's smirking like he's about to explain why I'm wrong.

I'm never wrong.

"Very well put Sasuke," Ibiki concedes. "It's true that the chemical reactions present when we first lay eyes on someone we are attracted to are important in defining love. The onset of lust, the inciting reaction leading to 'love' is supposed to occur between the first 60 seconds and the first 4 minutes of setting eyes on someone. The onset of 'love' generally takes more time."

He pauses to write something on the board and despite myself, I find that I'm absorbing this information like a sponge. Can it really only take 4 minutes to establish whether or not you want to screw somebody? Judging by how fast the scandals in this particular institution erupt, I suppose there is adequate evidence to support that theory.

"Obviously lust is a very potent and personal thing," Ibiki continues, his unnerving smile widening as he glances over at the enraptured class, a class normally pitted by drooling students, those frantically taking notes and a few bold people that choose to talk or text through Ibiki's lessons. Considering this is a university class, it's not Ibiki's job to ensure we pay attention but considering this particular subject matter, he seems to be enjoying the uncharacteristic attention.

"But," his voice lowers to a mere whisper and he leans forward, a glint in the dark depths of his eyes that reeks of mischievousness. "I can tell you the perfect formula for attracting the right kind of attention."

There's a pause literally long enough for the class to inhale as one before the disbelief erupts out of them like bubbling magma from a volcano top.

"Really?"

"What? What's this got to do with Biology?"

I _couldn't _agree more.

"This isn't going to involve further damage to my eyebrows is it?"

"I thought making date rape drugs was generally an illegal practice."

Ibiki chuckles, the laugh rumbling up from somewhere deep in his gut and his eyes crease slightly at the corners, the puckered skin of his scars bunching up in a rare way.

"I can assure you, we're not going to be manufacturing anything illegal today Mr Inuzuka," Ibiki confirms to a dumbstruck Kiba. I roll my eyes at the fool's back.

"No, what I'm talking about is the implication of a few secret techniques aimed to stimulate the correct responses from the person you so admire. What you have to keep in mind is these three things, that when someone is looking at you they will react to your body language primarily, second, the tone of your voice and only when attraction is established through these first two factors, the content of your speech or what you're actually saying."

A few people are looking dubious as he finishes his little revelatory speech and somehow, the class has been divided into those that have obviously experienced what Ibiki is talking about, looking wistful or empathetic, and those that honestly can't imagine being caught up in stuff outside of the content of someone's speech. Surely if someone were to say something stupid, that would put you off wanting to associate with them, right?

"To give you some idea of how important body language and tone of voice are to initiating lust, I'll give you a statistical example. Research has shown that a favourable reaction is garnered through: 55% body language, 38% tone of voice and only 7% speech content."

There are a few muffled comments quickly stifled rippling around the room and Ibiki's eyes are sharp, cutting into me as he passes back towards the board.

"What you have to remember my dear naïve pupils is that love is first and foremost a cocktail of chemicals, a drug – a physical response to something physical so of course it's the physical factors that are going to make the difference."

Ibiki pauses, allowing his eyes to rove across the room, pausing on Gaara who is looking somewhat defiant at the front of the class and then skimming back to me. Both of us, Gaara and I, are well known for our…less than hospitable natures. My acerbic, stand-offish attitude is something I've taken great pleasure in cultivating, a barrier that I've managed to erect between myself and the student body. Ibiki knows this and he knows exactly _why _I've chosen to erect such a barrier.

So why he's chosen today to change his usually passive attitude to the whole affair is beyond me but his eyes are like well-placed knives in my neck and I have to fight with everything I have to hold his gaze as defiantly as I can.

"With that in mind, I'd like you to consider the fact that no matter how immune a person may appear to the effects of the 'love drug', absolutely no-one, _no-one _is safe. Love is potentially the most dangerous drug known to man because unlike external, recreational drugs, people have no control over when this particular mix is let into their system. You are all, each and every one of you, a ticking time bomb."

There's a pregnant pause as the full weight of this statement is absorbed.

My eyes stay firmly fixed on Ibiki's even though I desperately have to fight the urge to blink and little coloured spots are starting to pop in my peripheral vision. I won't lose this particular staring match, he has to know that I think this is all a load of bullshit. Someone that succumbs to the drug like effects of _lust _has absolutely no self control whatsoever.

I am an Uchiha and Uchihas have perfect self control.

Ibiki breaks eye contact.

"Now, who can tell me the specific chemicals used to make up the love drug?"

I was right, the following proceedings are truly going to inspire nightmares.

* * *

I stare into the bathroom mirror, fixing myself with the same callous expression I fix everyone else with, hoping to see my practiced nonchalance from a third party perspective to insure I'm giving off the right signals. It's more important that people understand how much I do not care about them or what they have to say if I'm really going to make an appearance at this party.

Dead black eyes stare at me from the mirror's reflective surface, pleasingly shaped and pleasingly uninviting. My mouth is set in a non-committal line, neither betraying discomfort or eagerness, only confirming my complete passiveness to the on-going train wreck that is sure to be this evening.

Ibiki's comment about body language in our science class floats around my head like a poisonous parasite as I regard myself, thinking about the messages I'm sending to the general populace.

_55% body language._

Letting my eyes rove downwards, I meticulously begin to check my outfit and by semi-subconscious extension, the set of my shoulders, purposefully shifting them so they don't appear too stiff. Stiffness in the shoulders would probably make me seem uncomfortable, uncommonly alert, _flustered. _

Uchihas are never flustered.

The fabric of my navy blue shirt sits well on my torso and I move experimentally to make sure I'm not going to give any of the fan girls that are sure to show up something to squeal about.

Words cannot express how much I loathe those fan girls.

It's not like I can help the way I look or my completely hostile nature, a turn on to the female populace according to the sociology book I borrowed from the library last year to read up on why I was being stalked by the rabid female masses. The more I fling out biting comments or pointedly ignore whoever dares approach me, the more these girls seem to lay on the sickening charm, it's infuriating. The sociology book explained that, to women, my stoic demeanour can appear cool and that through condescending comments and general nonchalance; I'm presenting a challenge for the girls to try and delve beneath this hostility to find the sensitive truth. The girl that gets me to open up is ultimately the winner and in the process of getting me to open up, they form a strong emotional bond with me, something that they, as females, naturally crave.

Either the book was written by a maniac or I need to start acting less stoic.

…I should write a strongly worded letter to the university library service about lending out books written by maniacs.

Glancing down at my hands in the mirror, I allow my nose to wrinkle in mild annoyance, noting that they're balled at my sides, my arms pinned rigidly to the edge of my torso like I'm about to march out in a military parade. I suppose, thinking about body language, that this would give off the impression, to someone with no sense, that I might want to brawl…or something…

Uchihas don't brawl.

If we did, I probably would have gotten into many more altercations during my time at university. With the love of the insolent fan girls, the other guys that might have been perfectly amiable to me otherwise tend to greet me with scowls and whispered comments about my sexuality.

Just because I don't particularly want to associate myself with any of those dithering, twittering little girls…or anyone for that matter…they all think I'm some sort of closet gay.

Having briefly pondered the nature of my sexuality during high school, because to waste any more than a brief amount of time on something so meaningless is somewhat beneath me, I came to the respectable conclusion that I am asexual.

I do not and will not care for anyone.

I have my own goals to accomplish, more important things to occupy myself with.

_With that in mind, I'd like you to consider the fact that no matter how immune a person may appear to the effects of the 'love drug', absolutely no-one, _no-one_ is safe._

Perhaps I am truly the only 'safe' person on the planet.

A knock on the bathroom door disturbs my musings and, deeming myself presentable enough, I trudge forward to open the door to my housemate. Suigetsu is wearing the same sort of smile that Ibiki was wearing earlier.

I think for today especially, it would not be an over-exaggeration to state that this smile is the harbinger of doom. I really should look into taking life insurance.

"Do you know how long you've been in that bathroom?"

In answer to that question, I give Suigestu a pointed glare and make to close the bathroom door in his face but at the last possible moment, Tobi lunges forward, hopping from one foot to the other and cupping his crotch animatedly.

Suigestsu's usually stoic façade morphs into a cruel smirk.

"If you don't let him pee now, he'll only do it somewhere else in the house and I for one have no qualms about directing him towards your bed."

I open my mouth to argue but thankfully, the irksomely loud sound of a zip being opened alerts me to the fact that Tobi is preparing to pee regardless of whether or not I remain in the bathroom and I slam the door shut behind me as I give in, shuddering involuntarily as Tobi starts whistling from inside the bathroom.

"Just _what _did I do to deserve housemates like you weirdos?" I ask rhetorically, listening to the inflections apparent in my voice as I address the only person I have ever really been able to tolerate for more than a few minutes.

_38% tone of voice._

Interestingly enough, a frown creases Suigetsu's pale eyebrows, his lips turning down at the corners slightly as he contemplates what I've just said, innocent enough words but my voice was a little sharp.

Alright, I admit it, I'm experimenting a little.

"What's got you so grumpy?" Suigetsu asks, his own voice sounding as belligerent as usual. He smirks again as something seems to come to light in his mind.

"Could it be because of the party this evening?"

I feel my mood darken considerably at being reminded of this evening's heinous activities and it takes every effort not to let my face drop into a full on scowl, something that's sure to reflect a reaction I don't want Suigetsu to know about.

When his smirk falters slightly, I know I've managed to pull off apathy.

"No," I say curtly, stalking to my room to finish my preparations for this evening, namely checking the angle of my hair and finding a belt to keep my dark trousers in place.

I have only a few minutes of blissful peace before Tobi throws the door open, bouncing into my room uninvited and throwing himself on my bed, bouncing up and down. I wince inwardly.

Both Suigestu and Tobi are inherited housemates that I found via the notice board at university at the end of my first year. Suigetsu, like me, is a second year that didn't want to board with his course mates so opted to go for a random room whereas Tobi is technically our senior, a previous third year staying on to do his Masters in God only knows what and his friends have all graduated, leaving him to fend for himself.

For a few days after the initial move, my life was a wonderful cacophony of beautiful silence but then Tobi broached the verbal barrier over breakfast one morning and has been bothering me with his unique brand of insanity ever since.

"Remind me again why I agreed to this?" I hiss at Suigestu, who has come to stand beside me, out of the corner of my mouth as he watches Tobi slip over the edge of my bed so his head is hanging upside down and his feet are pointed up towards my Artexed ceiling.

"Because Tobi threatened to start stalking you in earnest if you refused," Suigetsu reminds me instantly, keeping his eyes fixed on Tobi's giggling form.

"Among other things," he adds ominously, evoking another shudder on my part as the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

I briefly indulge myself in the idea of feigning a migraine and crawling under the covers of my bed to drop into the blissful oblivion of stress induced sleep but the thought of having to see Tobi all the time, everywhere…listening to that inane chatter…putting up with the stupid little songs he insists on making up…all the time…

"Let's go already," I snap in a prickly manner, grabbing my formal black shoes and heading for the door.

Tobi promptly squeals like one of those God awful fan girls and surges forward at inhuman speeds and I don't need to have eyes in the back of my head to know that Suigetsu's expression is highly amused.

* * *

It takes me less than 2 minutes to lose both Suigetsu, the one person I was planning on staying attached to all night, and Tobi, thankfully. On arrival, I'm immediately ambushed by a couple of waiting fan girls who promptly set about complimenting my clothes:

"I found these at the back of my closet and threw them on."

My hair:

"It _always _looks like this."

My skin:

"Stop staring at me like that or I will eviscerate you."

And my physique:

"Touch me again and I will eviscerate you."

When they're not trying to butter me up with compliments, they're dithering uselessly at the edge of the crowd twirling loose strands of hair in their fingers or talking animatedly about the weather which has been the same for the last 3 weeks straight. I fix them all with the iciest look I can manage, hoping to fend them off a little but as usual, this doesn't work and neither does outright ignoring them.

Weirdly enough, Ibiki's words from today's science class are still circling in my head like some sort of thought vulture, waiting to prey on any other, much more useful, thoughts I might have today.

'_No-one is safe._'

For perhaps the first time ever, I take a good long look at the girls that usually swamp me and after a few seconds of serious analysing, watching the way one of them will bite their lip or avert their eyes shyly, I feel my nose wrinkle in vague disgust.

If I was ever in danger of falling in 'love' with any of them, I think I'd shoot myself.

No, really.

"So Sasuke are…are you prepared for the exams?"

I give a cursory glance to the girl in front of me, noting that it's a girl from my class called Sakura. Although I have to dig deep into the recesses of my memory to extract the necessary information on this girl (they all blur into one when they flock me), I recall that she's actually quite intelligent, always answering questions in class.

I open my mouth to give her a pretty acerbic answer, something aimed to shut her down from further conversation when something happens.

The world shifts.

My breath hitches.

My heart thuds in my chest like an explosion, pressing uncomfortably tight against my rib cage and I'm suddenly painfully aware of the fabric against my tingling skin.

My eyes are transfixed on the person before me, weaving through the crowd with a couple of drinks and a vaguely irritated look on his face.

_55% body language._

He walks with sure steps, planting his feet solidly before angling himself forward, creating a path for himself where there may not have necessarily been a path. His hands are wrapped firmly around the drinks he's carrying, keeping them perfectly balanced as he moves, no mean feat in this heavy crowd. His eyes are the most vibrant shade of blue I have ever seen, alight with a challenging gaze directed at anyone that tries to get in his way. Every time someone steps too close to his feet, his lip quirks up in a half snarl, revealing a brief glimpse of his teeth. His hair is a bright, almost obnoxious shade of blonde and if not for the eyebrows adorning the lower edge of his forehead, I might have gone so far as to say that it _couldn't _be natural. As he makes it to the edge of the crowd, I can just make out three thin lines adorning each tanned cheek like whisker marks equally spaced.

"Yo, Sakura!" He calls out, his expression morphing from vague annoyance into genuine glee. The change is so fast and his expression is so sincere, I actually stagger back a little to the general anxious cooing of the females around me.

Without really thinking about it, I clutch at my chest where my heart seems to be trying to escape.

_38% tone of voice._

The way he says her name with the eager inflection on the 'a' makes heat burn through my system. Before I can stop myself, I'm imagining the way he might say my name, with that same eager inflection on the 'e' at the end. Could I perhaps coax him to say my name in a different way? Could I provoke him to let my name out as a sigh, a breath with the hint of my name running through it like it's been woven into the air? Could I make him stutter it as I explore his sensiti-

What the fuck is wrong with me?

Sakura throws me a concerned look as she watches me go so painfully still, turning as she hears him calling and grinning as he hands her the drink.

"Thanks Naruto," she says and takes a long gulp of alcohol.

Naruto.

Naruto.

_Naruto._

I open my mouth to say something but realise I have no reason to speak. I don't know this guy, I wouldn't normally talk to him.

How the hell do I normally talk anyway?

Naruto slings his arm around Sakura's shoulders, the grin on his face broad. I can't help but notice the set of the muscles on his arm, lean but sturdy and as he angles himself in towards Sakura, the shirt he's wearing rides up slightly, revealing the edge of a tanned torso.

Its like magnets have been attached to my eyes and that tiny, naked edge has the only polar opposite to those magnets in the world.

Somewhere in my addled mind, I realise that this blatant staring has got to be creepy.

Somewhere else in my addled mind, I wonder if someone managed to slip me drugs before we left the house.

"Who's your friend?" Naruto asks and for the first time, his eyes find mine.

Endless, limitless blue.

Like looking at the sky in high summer.

So vivid I can almost feel the heat rolling out of those eyes, encompassing me.

For a few seconds, I'm only aware of those azure pools, not the lights around us, not the people and then some synapse fires in the recesses of my brain and I am suddenly painfully aware of my face and how it must look to this…this…

Luckily, I'm not a naturally expressive person. Aside from the fact that my eyes are slightly wide and my lips are parted, I don't look much different from normal. Somehow, I'm able to drag the mask of nonchalance back in place, focussing on making sure that my lips are set in the usual indefinite line.

I wonder if my acerbic nature will have the same effect on this walking work of art as it usually does on the petty fan girls.

Wait…why should I care?

_The onset of lust, the inciting reaction leading to 'love' is supposed to occur between the first 60 seconds and the first 4 minutes of setting eyes on someone._

How long has it been since I set eyes on this guy? Why do I feel this way? If I avert my gaze now, will I stop feeling like this? Can I save myself?

_No-one is safe._

"Oh, Naruto, this is Sasuke Uchiha, Sasuke, this is my friend Naruto Uzumaki."

I'm trying to tear my eyes away from those brilliant blue eyes but despite my self-control, I'm completely unable to, held fast. His eyes widen slightly as Sakura says my name, almost as though he's realised something.

"So _this _is the famous Sasuke Uchiha," he says, his expression turning playful as he elbows Sakura in the ribs. She flushes bright crimson and stares pointedly at the floor, her shoulders stiffening considerably. The colour clashes horrendously with the pastel pink of her hair.

Not that I notice.

_He said my name._

It echoes through my empty head, on a loop like a broken record. The sound of it sends shivers from the tip of my spine to the small of my back.

"Naruto," Sakura hisses, shooting me horrified looks from beneath her lashes.

Naruto chuckles amiably and it's like the Goddamn sun's come out. His happiness is infectious and before I can help myself, I can feel a small smile tugging at the corners of my own mouth, pulling my face into an entirely foreign expression.

What the hell is wrong with me?

"Ah sorry, it's nice to finally meet you Sasuke, Sakura talks about you all the time."

In a sudden display of brutal rage, Sakura lifts her leg and stamps on his foot. I wince slightly when I realise she's wearing heels and Naruto's face contorts slightly before the yelp escapes his lips and he recoils from his overly familiar stance by her shoulder.

"Ow, geez Sakura," he complains openly, hopping gingerly on one foot.

I blink at the whole thing…

…and inwardly face palm.

He's an idiot.

A tactless idiot.

_7% speech content._

"Tch, moron," I mutter disbelievingly under my breath, alarmed when the word falls in the air between us like a lead weight. Naruto looks like he's about to lay on the melodrama thick because Sakura's looking slightly apologetic but he pauses when he hears the word and his eyes…

…they burn.

"What did you just say?" he asks in a warning tone and the deeper tenor of his voice causes a stirring of something powerful inside me, my gut squirms in an entirely new sensation.

I want to take it back, panicking slightly that he'll get the wrong impression because of one misplaced word, the only thing I've been able to say but I'm an Uchiha.

I _can't _take it back.

Which means the only thing I can do now is plough on forward.

"I said you were a moron."

Why? Why am I saying these things? My mouth is running off by itself! Someone stop me, Suigetsu, Tobi…_anyone!_

Naruto snarls at me, dropping his injured foot back onto the ground with ease and squaring his shoulders so I can follow the line of his defined physique beneath his T-shirt. As he bares his teeth, the whisker marks on his cheeks tilt up and in the light, they seem more defined, wider.

"Where the hell did that come from? I just met you, bastard!"

He's being overly defensive. If I was in my right mind right now, I might have been able to pick up on why but my breath is starting to come in shallow little gasps, I can feel a film of sweat coating my forehead. This anger that he's directing towards me is both intensely thrilling and at the same time terrifying.

Sakura is glancing from both me to Naruto with a seriously confused look on her face.

I don't blame her.

I feel like I'm watching through my own eyes as someone else takes control. I can feel my facial expression contort until I'm fixing Naruto with the look of superiority I only ever save for Suigetsu when he's done something particularly stupid.

"I take it Sakura is a good friend of yours and you just openly embarrassed her. If that is not a moronic thing to do then I don't know what is," I reel off easily, waiting until I can see he's really steamed before adding cruelly:

"Ultimate moron."

The next few moments seem to happen in slow motion. The anger that erupts from him is raw, feral, animalistic and completely explosive. In an instant he's dropped his stance and has thrown out a punch and the only thing I have time to register is the slightly golden hue of his skin as his knuckles crash against the side of my cheek. Bones connect and stars burst behind my eyes as I'm thrown backwards, hurled into a few of the fan girls still standing behind me.

Silence falls over the group, punctuated by the rhythmic pulse of the music behind us. I blink through the crippling pain throbbing through my cheek.

I'm going to have a black eye tomorrow.

Naruto is glaring at me and his eyes are hard making those endless pools of blue into azure sapphires.

He really is a moron.

Who gets so heated up at a few rude words at a party?

Maybe I hit a nerve?

I know I should be furious with him. I guess I am, a complete stranger having the gall to hit me after only exchanging a few words with me. So brash, so powerful…

_So exciting._

His breath is hard and heavy as he stands above me and I'm able to watch as the fury dissipates, the expression of intense anger washing away into one of serious regret and fright.

"Oh, Sasuke, I'm so sorr-

"You punch like a fucking girl."

Seriously, _who _is controlling my Goddamn vocal chords because it sure as hell isn't me! Never in a million years would I respond to an apology like that, with apathy maybe, with a curt nod if I'm feeling forgiving but…but with a taunt? And since when do I swear?

I feel a brief flare of sadistic satisfaction as the fire re-kindles in his eyes and despite Sakura's strangled pleas, he strides forwards until he's straddling my legs. His tan hand reaches down to grip the front of my shirt, hauling me up so his hot, slightly alcohol tinged breath rushes over my face.

The scent of him makes my thoughts scramble, like my brain's been put in a blender.

"What the hell is your problem asshole?" he growls out and the low, guttural tone in his throat makes me shiver.

For a few seconds more we're locked in this stalemate, him watching me with barely controlled rage and me watching him with a look of disdain. The world around us has dissolved and warped until there's no-one but me and him, no beginning and no end to this confrontation – we're like the two sides of the yin and yang.

Then, as I catch a glimpse of Suigetsu in my peripheral vision, the spell is broken. Naruto is dragged off of me and his fist relinquishes my shirt.

I can do nothing but speculate as Naruto squirms in Suigetsu's grasp, still angry enough to want to threaten me, his expression murderous.

"Oi, calm down will you?" Suigetsu's voice seems amplified somehow and I wonder if it's because the bruising on my face is already starting to warp the way sound is interpreted in my damaged hearing system.

Naruto manages to throw him off but doesn't come for me again, his eyes averting.

"He started it," Naruto says and his voice is childish.

Hm, can't argue with him though.

I make a point of struggling to sit up, preparing to continue this verbal sparring, to fight for my pride but before we can get into it, he's pivoted on one foot and stormed off into the weaving crowd.

My eyes widen slightly in shock.

_No…don't go…_

I've frozen in place, utterly dumbstruck. Time has paused as he retreats and somehow I just can't understand how he could have left like that.

It's weird, I mean…just because I've…_reacted _to him the way I have, doesn't mean I've now got him on some sort of leash. If I was going to pick on what is obviously a sore subject with him then obviously, at some point in time, he was going to leave.

_Will I ever see him again?_

I can feel Suigetsu's hands under my arms, hauling me up. The back of my trousers is sticky from the residue of alcohol spilled over the hard floor during the evening and my cheek is thrumming.

I can still remember the feel of his hand as it impacted my face, the heat of skin before the shock of the collision took over everything else and pain drowned out the sensation.

"Oi Sasuke, did he give you a concussion or something?" Suigetsu is asking, snapping fingers in front of my face and simultaneously fending off the fan girls desperate to make sure I'm okay.

My eyes are trained to the last place I saw him and the whole thing is like some amped up, over-emotional nightmare.

"Something…" I mutter indefinitely, bringing one of my hands to my cheek to feel at the puffy flesh.

_No-one is safe._

* * *

_Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, if you have the time, please do drop a review. I always appreciate it._

_Thanks!_


	2. Naruto 1

_AN: I got such a good response for the first chapter of this story! It kinda surprised me seeing as this was mostly just a way to let off steam. I'm rambling...blame Naruto heh._

_A special thank you to everyone that reviewed, you guys are the bomb! _

_I did check this for mistakes but I'm lazy so I probably missed things when I got distracted. A brief warning, as previously mentioned, this chapter is in Naruto's POV, next chapter is back to Sasuke etc._

* * *

**2: Naruto**

_What the hell?_

_Just…what the hell?_

It takes me a moment to gain my bearings as I leave the party, grumbling profanities under my breath as I grab the hoodie I came with and march down the street, intent on going straight home and stewing over the whole thing for a good long while. For a couple of minutes, I'm half expecting Sakura to follow me out as she usually does so we can walk home together but I'm not sure if she'll ever forgive me for this.

Why the hell did that asshole of a guy have to get me so Goddamn riled? Who goes around calling people they've never met before a 'moron'? And in that condescending tone?

I think it was the _tone _more than anything that got me so wound up, so superior, so utterly disdainful, like I wasn't worth the shit on his shoes.

Ugh.

It's not like I don't know that I have a tendency to be a little dense. I'm not particularly observant and I never really meant to embarrass Sakura the way I did but still, did he have to pick on it like that? People slip up all the time, he didn't have to be so damn judgemental and wasn't he just as bad for making a big deal out of something that could have been easily swept under the carpet?

Maybe I shouldn't have hit him.

…Punch like a fucking girl, who the hell does he think he's talking to?

I'm still seething when my phone starts vibrating in my pocket a good half an hour later and, in an uncharacteristic display of pre-cognition, I know without looking at the caller ID who's calling me. Dread swirls unpleasantly through my system as I slide my finger across the smooth screen to answer the call, wincing at the heavy breathing I can already hear leaking through the mouth piece at the other end.

"Sakura," I state in a low voice. "I'm so-

"Don't Naruto, just don't," she snaps at me and I don't think I've ever heard such bitterness in her voice before, not even when I told her she was more like a man than a woman the first time she showed me that she could punch a punch bag clean off of its metal hinge.

I try to figure out how to respond to her obvious anger but there's nothing I can think of to say. She has a perfect right to be angry with me, I should just resign myself to what I'm gonna get from her for making such a scene at the party, for hurting the guy she's into.

"You know how serious I am about him," she starts eventually; when she realises I'm not going to say anything else. "What on Erath possessed you to think it would be okay to hit him? No don't answer that, you weren't thinking, you never are!"

"Sakura," I start saying into the phone, hearing her voice crack at the end of that last sentence.

She can't cry, I absolutely hate it when she cries. She doesn't deserve to feel so awful.

It makes me want to promise her the world.

"Look, I'll go back and apologise. I'll work something out with that jer- that guy alright? Everything's gonna be fine."

"No Naruto. This is a big deal, he's not just going to forget something like that. No-one in their right mind would forget being punched by a stranger. Just drop it okay?"

I can feel frustration replacing the jagged anger in my system making me panicked, fidgety. I run a hand through the thick chunks of my hair and bite my nails as I try and think of a way to make it up to her. I don't have many friends; I don't want to lose-

"Look, I don't think you should come back to the house tonight Naruto, okay?"

Huh?

It takes a moment for the true meaning of those words to filter though the haze over my mind and suddenly, I'm way too weary to process this properly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you should find somewhere else to stay alright? I really don't want to see you at the moment."

Sakura and I share a house with our two friends, the house being a gift from Sakura's grandmother when she passed away a couple of years ago. It's convenient because it's only a mile away from university and the four of us don't get over-charged on rent going through the usual 'student friendly' agencies. If I'd had to find regular student accommodation, I would have had to commute from Iruka's place which isn't really a viable option.

Sakura was kind enough to pick me to rent from her along with her best friend Ino (who I'm pretty sure doesn't like me too much but then no-one ever does initially) and Sai who's on Sakura's art course – he takes a lot of pleasure in telling me I have absolutely no manhood, for some reason, though due to an unfortunate incident involving a broken boiler, Sai's seen for himself exactly what I have down there.

He's just jealous that I'm bigger than him.

"Aw, come on Sakura," I say in my softest voice. If this is an attempt to show how serious my blunder at the party was then I understand, I definitely understand. I'm going to be buying Sakura's lattes for the next 3 months at least if I want her to even look at me again.

"I mean it Naruto," Sakura says resolutely down the phone and I can tell by the tone of her voice that she's set on this.

_She's chucking me out, actually chucking me out because I punched the guy she likes._

She knows that I don't have a lot of friends, that Iruka's place is too far away for me to get to this late at night.

_Where am I supposed to go?_

She sighs angrily into the receiver when I don't say anything and her tone is waspish as she cuts me off with a curt 'goodbye'. I'm left staring at the bright screen of my phone in the darkness, willing the clocks to turn back so I can erase what happened between me and that nonchalant bastard.

I groan angrily to myself and flop down on the nearest bench in the park I've wandered aimlessly into, letting my head fall into my hands.

God.

Why did I get so mad? Was it the way he was looking at me? His eyes were dark, disapproving and totally cold after all. Was it the fact that he just seemed to hate me on sight like everyone always does? Damnit, what did I do to merit that kind of reaction anyway?

His face floats in my mind as I allow myself to fall sideways on the bench and I can't help but wonder what all those girls see in him. Sure, he had a fairly nice face if you're in to perfect symmetry and the contrast of his thick black hair against the pale skin was sort of…entrancing I suppose. He had a slim build, slimmer than me though he made up for that with a further inch or so of height and he was well dressed, meticulously so in fact.

Maybe the girls just like to imagine what it might be like to make the asshole smile.

A cold wind runs across the bare skin of my arms and I shiver, sitting up to pull my hoodie over my head before curling straight back up on the bench, unable to push myself to think of somewhere to go. Who would take me in on such short notice without expecting something major in return? I don't have any cash for a hotel…

Perhaps I should just wait out the rest of the night here and take the train to Iruka's in the morning. That's probably my best option at the moment, certainly not the safest but I'll take what I can get. Thankfully, it's a Saturday tomorrow which means I won't have to ditch any classes and I have plenty of time to consider my next move if Sakura's exiled me for good.

The thought makes me shudder involuntarily.

For all that its worth, I totally agree with that fluffed up prick now, I really am a moron.

_Why _did I _HIT _him?

Without allowing myself any further thought on the matter, I make a point of squeezing my eyes tight shut and willing myself to sleep. It's hard going, the sounds of the outside world make me jerk up alertly every few minutes and the wind keeps getting under my hoodie to coax goose-bumps to spring up along my skin. I keep considering the possibility that I'll be robbed or murdered out in the open like this without back up, vulnerable prey to the psychos that like to come out at night but then I'm thinking about that cold bastard again and the way he projected such outright hate at me. The two thoughts seem to merge together and I'm suddenly afraid of callous psychopaths that want to murder me for punching like a fucking girl.

Just before I finally drift off with my face pressed into the hard, cold wood, his face flashes in the back of my mind, projecting a perfect image of the expression he was wearing when our eyes first met.

For that brief blissful moment, there was one other person in the world that didn't hate me and I carefully file that expression away in my mental vault for later examination, something to hold on to when it all gets to be a little too much and I need to remember what it feels like to be acknowledged, even if only for those first crucial seconds.

* * *

Iruka opens the door sporting the best bed head I have ever seen in my life and I can't help but beam at him. The man is a legend.

"Morning sunshine," I say, punctuating this greeting statement with a little eyebrow wiggle.

Iruka blinks at me blearily, a mug of sludgy coffee clutched in his right hand like a life line and his eyebrow twitches, a movement that would be imperceptible to those that don't know him very well.

"Naruto," Iruka states, like a toddler labelling nouns and steps aside to let me through, his eyes darting up to the mirror in his hallway as I pass by. I stifle a snicker as he winces at the sight of his gravity defying hair and plop down comfortably at the kitchen table, relieved to be inside after my night sleeping on a park bench. Anyone that has ever slept outside without the appropriate means such as a tent or a sleeping bag can attest to how absolutely awful you can feel when you wake up the next day. This morning was spent stretching out joints so stiff I may as well have died during the night and started to succumb to the effects of rigor mortis, sorting out a neck which twinges uncomfortably every time I try and look to my left side and massaging feeling back into hypothermic hands. Thank God I had enough change from last night to afford a hot chocolate at the train station or I might have had to bypass Iruka's for a straight shot to the morgue.

"Coffee?" Iruka asks in a gravelly voice, holding up his own cup and sucking up the dregs of the vile stuff.

I shake my head. A hot drink would be nice right now, I still need to thaw out but I don't drink coffee on principle. Caffeine does _not _agree with me.

"Cereal?" I ask hopefully and Iruka jabs his thumb over his shoulder at the little cabinet next to the stove. Triumphantly, I hop up and start rummaging through the contents of the cabinet for the really tasty muesli Iruka always buys as he sets about pouring himself another cup of coffee.

I eye him warily as I straighten again and head to the cupboard for a bowl. Having lived with Iruka for a few years before I went to university, I know that it takes at least 3 cups of coffee for him to get going in the mornings so if this is only his second cup, I've got a while yet to avoid the subject of what happened last night.

I pull an involuntary face as I think about it, remembering the unsettlingly satisfying way that my fist connected with that bastard's delicate cheekbone.

I wonder if I gave him a black eye.

By the time I've grabbed the milk and have sat down in front of Iruka, he's into his third cup of coffee and is beginning to frown at me in concern. I shiver involuntarily, aware that my hands are still a little numb after spending the night on a bench.

Now that it's daylight, I realise how pathetic that is.

"Alright Naruto," Iruka says eventually, sighing slightly as he stares into the dregs of his coffee. "What's the matter? Let's hear it."

I pause with a spoonful of cereal half way to my lips, remembering the look of disdain on that guy's face the night before. It seems kind of like a long time ago now, the night was never-ending after I left…

I sigh, trying not to run my hand through my hair. I've done that way too much since the whole incident last night and I can feel the filth caking my scalp and my hands. I really want to use Iruka's shower.

"Oh God, where should I start?" I whine, going for melodramatic in hopes that I might make this appear a lot less serious than it really might be. This tactic usually works, at least with people that don't know me well. Iruka's eyes simply widen and for the first time, he really looks at me, taking in how scruffy I must appear to be after a night outside.

"What happened?" he asks again, his tone of voice sharper this time.

My eyes narrow.

"Don't panic Iruka, I'm fine, everyone's fine. I just…had a bit of a fight and Sakura got mad, that's all."

"You…had a fight?" Iruka repeats blankly, letting that sink in for a moment. "Was it with that Sai boy you've been living with because frankly, I'm surprised you haven't had a bit of an altercation with him befor-

"No _dad _it wasn't with Sai," I confirm, shaking my head.

Sai may be a bit of a jerk but he's never actually meant anything he's said, not like that prick did last night.

"It was…actually with the guy Sakura's currently crushing on. He was being a total jackass and I just…I dunno, I just sort of lost it."

Run hand through hair again.

Pause to consider the fact that I'm gonna need to invest in a hair transplant before I'm middle aged if I keep this up.

"She got mad enough to chuck me out, at least for the night so I was really hoping I could use your shower then maybe spend the day grovelling in hopes that she might lighten up," I say with a half hearted grin.

There's a pregnant pause while Iruka digests everything I've divulged, his eyes bugging out comically. Eventually, he rests his elbows on the table and lets his head fall onto his waiting palms. I can't help flinching guiltily when he sighs.

"Naruto, if Sakura chucked you out, where the hell did you go last night?"

My eyes widen in surprise. That was _not _the first thing I thought Iruka would say after hearing all that. Truthfully, I was expecting a reprimand for making unnecessary enemies after only being back at university for 2 weeks.

"Uh…"

The question has thrown me so much that it actually takes me a moment to remember where I spent the night.

"I…sort of…sleptonaparkbench but it was fine!" I try and assure Iruka as he throws me an animated look of the deepest horror.

"You _slept _on a _park bench_?" Iruka re-iterates making the question sound like a statement. My hands shoot up defensively but as his eyes start to blaze, I hold my tongue, not wanting to irk him anymore than I already have. Now that I've actually admitted to the piteous truth, I realise just how stupid it sounds.

I really am a moron. Maybe instead of punching that asshole, I should have congratulated him for stating the obvious.

"You…you…_you…_"

He won't use the word though I know he's absolutely itching to. Anything derogatory to my intelligence never goes down well if he really wants me to listen so, despite the fact that his face has gone an unhealthy shade of maroon, he bites back the word struggling to form on his tongue and lets one of his hands slap down on the hard table top. The spoon rattles in my half empty cereal bowl.

"You should have _called _me Naruto. I don't care what sort of time it was, I would have come and got you."

For a moment, pure, untainted affection rushes through me, thawing me much better than even the hot chocolate at the station did.

Iruka was worried about me.

It always amazes me when he proves that he genuinely cares, that _anyone _would genuinely care.

I sound like some sort of crazed emo.

Gotta work on that.

"You don't drive," I point out, shovelling muesli into my mouth and crunching idly, letting the flavours of raisons and whole grains merge in my mouth, swallowing so the mush settles on my slightly troubled stomach.

Iruka's eyes are like knives as he regards me.

"I have friends," he says curtly, meaning that he would have called on Mizuki. I may be an idiot but even I can predict how that would go down. Mizuki would do anything for Iruka – as long as whatever he needs doesn't involve me in some way. The man hates me more than most and that's saying a lot.

Iruka seems to realise the implications of what he just said and scowls as I scoff at him, knowing what I'm thinking.

"Mizuki's not a bad guy you know, he may not…have the highest opinion of you but he wouldn't leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere by yourself _at night_."

I respond to this dubious statement by getting up from the kitchen table and dumping my empty bowl in the sink. Suppressing another shiver, I stalk into the hallway and head for Iruka's bathroom, noting his almost silent footsteps on the stairs behind me. While I turn the shower on, he ventures into my old room for a set of my spare clothes and drops them on the sink along with a clean towel.

A strained smile graces my lips as I set eyes on my old orange hoodie.

I used to wear the thing constantly while I was in high school so it's a little worn out, and by a little worn out I mean virtually tattered. There are a few frayed holes in the edges with loose bits of string dangling freely down the main body. The colour has faded and the inner fluff has been thoroughly washed out but it fits my shape in a way that clothes only can after you wear them constantly for a long time. It was a good choice considering my night of hell. I need some comfort.

"Whatever you might think of Mizuki, please just call next time, okay?" Iruka says and the slightly anxious tone of voice is sincere.

Suddenly, I have to fight off the violent urge to hug the man, Iruka was always good in a crisis.

I strip off, unembarrassed when Iruka takes a seat on the toilet seat. The guy's lived with me for a long time so he's seen it all before, besides, the two of us get some real serious talking done in the shower. The hot water clears my head so it's easier to process what I'm hearing from him.

"So what exactly did this guy do for you start a fight with him?" Iruka asks while I step into the shower, hissing as the scalding liquid runs across my freezing skin.

"What makes you think I started it?" I ask him innocently.

Even though there is a shower curtain in the way, I can almost _hear _Iruka rolling his eyes.

"Naruto," he says sternly, like it's a crime to insinuate something like this might be the other guy's fault.

I guess he knows me pretty well.

I laugh sheepishly and reach for the shampoo. Iruka uses this weird stuff for course hair that seems to grant my own hair sentience but beggars can't be choosers. I work in a thick lather whilst thinking about everything that happened.

"He called me a moron and then just…instead of letting it go, he just…purposefully made it worse. I don't know," I say, frowning at my own rashness. I really need to think about stuff before I act but if I get mad that's it. I'm a creature of the moment damnit.

Iruka seems to realise that I've already come to the conclusion that any of his lectures would point me to so he makes a simple noise of acknowledgement, turning his attention to the solution for the overlying problem.

"So, what do we do to fix this?"

Another point in Iruka's favour is that he never hounds me about violence. During my high school years, I was involved in a fair few…quarrels but Iruka never tried to get up on a high horse and demand I quit dealing out punches to those who need it. I've never hit a girl so he doesn't need to worry about that and I've never done anyone any lasting damage so honestly, I don't see the problem. Most of the time, my punches are used a bit like full stops. They make people pause, consider and then continue, something people need to do once in a while and some of the time, they just don't know how.

"I tried to apologise to Sakura but she's pretty steamed," I say regretfully, reaching for the body wash. I try to ignore the pang of panic that shoots through me but it's difficult, I really don't want to lose her.

It's been nice to have someone to talk to.

"Have you tried apologising to the guy you hit? Maybe if he forgives you, she'll forgive you too."

I bristle immediately, my muscles tightening subtly under the stream of water running across my shoulders and down over my concave naval. A growl rumbles up from my throat and I have to grit my teeth to hold in this influx of rage.

"Tch, like I'd apologise to a stuck up guy like him. Goddamn asshole."

Iruka's response to this is a little snippy, like he's running out of patience. I guess I can't blame him, I've caused him a lot of upset this morning.

"Naruto, if you were the one that instigated the fight and let matters get out of control then you need to be the bigger man and apologise."

I'm not sure if it's the fact that I've had a long and highly traumatic night on a park bench or if this whole situation is so serious, anything could be funny but I snicker childishly into my hand as I turn off the shower and grab the towel Iruka brought me.

"Heh, the bigger man," I chuckle as I start to wipe off the excess water. "There was one point when I got up close and personal but I didn't really have time to compare."

Iruka's eyes widen in disbelief for a moment and then, amusingly, his eyes crinkle at the corners in barely suppressed mirth while his mouth pulls down into something resembling disapproval. I watch the warring of emotions on his face, entertained beyond comprehension before he just shakes his head, letting one stray chortle out before throwing my underwear at my grinning face.

"Just get dressed and come downstairs pervert. I've got a few things to do this afternoon but we can grab some lunch at Ichiraku's before I go alright?"

And just like that, all the heaviness laying over my system, all the guilt, the regret, the anger at myself dissipates. I can feel my eyes practically sparkling as my expression morphs into a mask of true appreciation. Ichiraku's is the answer to _all _of life's problems.

"Seriously? You're the best, I totally mean that and if I ever leave my dirty laundry hanging around or forget to take out my ramen cups or call you up in the middle of the night because I'm stuck sleeping on a park bench again then all you need to do is remind of this moment and I will bend to your indomitable will."

I bow low to punctuate this statement and confirm my undying love of both ramen and Iruka's generosity.

Iruka takes the opportunity, while my guard is down, to hit me upside the head. There's a jovial twinkle in his eye as I look up sheepishly, muttering a pathetic 'ouch' under my breath for show more than as an actual exclamation of pain.

"If you were gonna bend to my will for ramen, you'd suck it up and apologise to the guy but I know you Uzumaki Naruto. You've taken this personally and now there's no way anything will ever be smooth between you two."

"Heh," I utter by the way of admitting to my faults. Once someone gets me riled, it's hard to stop reacting to them so intensely.

Maybe that's one of the reasons people don't like me so much.

"Now for God's sake put some clothes on, I know you're an exhibitionist at heart but even Ichiraku's has a dress code."

* * *

Ramen really does make everything so much better.

When I step off of the train at Konoha station and take a deep breath, I can taste the lingering tang of lunch on the back of my tongue and it makes me smile despite my current circumstances. The day has turned into one of those crisp autumn days that crop up when the weather is about to turn and I find myself kicking up leaves as I start trekking towards the university.

Generally speaking, the plan is simple, I'm to call Sakura again today, hoping she's had a chance to cool off about the whole incident, and grovel mercilessly until she takes me back. If she's actually chucking me out long term then I'm heading to the university anyway, I can just start the ball rolling for an emergency room transfer. I'm sure there's someone somewhere that won't charge a boat load of rent for a studio or something…

Flipping up the phone, I take another deep breath and speed dial Sakura. My heart is pounding in my ears as a light click on the other side confirms she's picked up the receiver.

"Naruto," she says and weirdly enough, her voice is scratchy and thick, like she has a bad head cold. There's a painful constriction in my chest as I realise she's probably been crying. She really is serious about that Uchiha ass. If she forgives me, I might have to make it a personal mission to see that she gets a chance with him, even if she deserves so much better.

"Hi Sakura," I say slowly, trying to remember what Iruka was telling me over lunch about pausing at the right places and really listening to what she has to say.

Annoyingly, I can only remember the beginning of what he was telling me, the rest of my concentration was directed towards deconstructing the subtle flavours packed into each pork slice I managed to grasp between my chop sticks or pondering on how they get the egg to float so nicely under the surface of the broth.

Mm…Ichiraku miso pork broth…

"Naruto, are you listening?"

Oh shit.

"Huh? Sorry I was-

"Don't. Worry. About it," Sakura grinds out and I can help but pull a face of severe discomfort as I take in the tone of voice she's using.

She hasn't calmed down at all, and distracting myself with thoughts of pork ramen really isn't helping me any when she's trying to be civil and talk to me.

I'm my own worst enemy.

"Look, I've mulled it over and I really don't think you should live here anymore."

The bottom simply drops out of my stomach and I pause on the leaf strewn path I'm currently ambling down, disbelief churning through me.

Disbelief and a crushing sense of finality.

"I…wait, what?" I ask stupidly, my thoughts derailing into a spectacular pile up somewhere in the middle of my mind. I can't quite fathom that she's taken this so badly, can't quite understand that she's willing to write me off as her friend when I had a clash with her crush that couldn't have lasted 15 minutes. I know we've only been friends for a year or so and she doesn't know me that well but…

Aren't I worth more to her than someone she's barely spoken to?

"I saw Sasuke's eye today Naruto and he looked really mad. Normally I at least get a hello and the usual responses but today he…he t-totally _blanked _me!"

Gnawing guilt is moulding into mounting rage which is devolving back into regret and it's a never-ending pulsing system of tumultuous feelings lurching through my washed out system. All the good that the ramen did when I went to lunch with Iruka is slowly being worn down by the re-emergence of the same issues.

How _dare _he blank her! Our fight had absolutely nothing to do with her! She was an innocent bystander to our altercation, where does he get off being so…so…

"Bastard," I hiss down the phone, unable to hold my tongue through the haze of red I'm starting to experience. The word tastes hot on my tongue and Sakura's response is nearly hysterical.

"Naruto, I c-can't believe you…you idiot! You've got a week to p-pick up your things alright? I want you g-gone."

I've made her cry again.

Aren't I just as bad, if not worse than he is?

Maybe I deserve to be thrown out of the house. Why should Sakura hold a place for me when all I do is cause her misery?

"Sakura…" I whisper her name down the phone in a voice that's not my own. It's far too soft, far too vulnerable, far too…

…_defeated._

For the first time since this whole thing began, words honestly fail between us and I'm left standing on the path with the lazy clouds rolling ahead of me, a settled sky that doesn't reflect the turmoil playing out on the ground. Sakura's bitter sobs stave off the silence and I feel like the worst person in the world.

Eventually, Sakura gets a hold of herself long enough to simply say:

"I'm sorry Naruto," before the phone clicks and the line goes dead, sounding out an obnoxious single note like a flat-lined heart machine.

* * *

The wall across from me is plastered with a variety of posters and notes advertising everything from used cars and band positions to old Playstations and rooms for rent. I'm sprawled out in an undignified slouch on the bench across from that wall, glaring out of bleary eyes at the notes and trying to pick out something that might be suitable. Though there are a few places still going (because it's still pretty early in the term), none of them have decent rent and even with the part-time job I hold at the _Shushuya _there's no way I'd be able to afford it along with student fees and I refuse to ask for a loan from Iruka who's already helped me too much.

The halls surrounding the notice board in the student building are eerily silent but for the student body, it's a pretty weird time of day. It's after lunch time so there are no catered students wandering around and it's still early enough that they're not setting up for the evening activities yet. The building is old though and the hall is high ceilinged and narrow meaning that the sound of clicking heels is carried all the way from across the building so it sounds like someone might come up behind me when they're actually quite far away.

I blink, feeling my eyes stick closed briefly. I'm really starting to feel the crappy night I spent on the bench. Mental note: Take Iruka's advice and call him next time.

When I manage to peel my eyes open there's someone standing in front of me, peering at me with a look bordering on manic excitement and I jump about a mile in the air, toppling off of the edge of the bench to land in an undignified heap.

"Gah!" I yelp in a seriously un-manly manner, throwing my arms up in a bad imitation of a stance I saw Jackie Chan take up once in one of his older movies.

The guy standing above me simply grins and holds out a hand for me to take.

I eye it suspiciously.

"What? Don't you trust me?" he asks after a while and I realise that my blatant suspicion of this guy, despite the out of place, frankly creepy, expression on his face, is somewhat unfounded and to ignore his outstretched hand is something of a social faux pas. Against my better judgement, I accept his open hand and heave myself up, running an automatic hand over my eyes to rub away the gritty residue of half sleep.

The guy frowns, his fairer than fair eyebrows knotting atop his eyes and I mimic his expression, realising when I get a good look at him that I've seen him somewhere before but I'm unable to pinpoint exactly where.

"Are you okay?" he asks. "You look exhausted."

"Mn, rough night," I confirm, trying to throw him a cheeky smile but only managing a grimace instead.

"Yeah, I can imagine," he says sympathetically, angling his body so he's facing the notice board whilst keeping his light coloured eyes trained on me.

I wonder if he's admiring my favourite orange hoodie.

"So what brings you to the student hall at this time on a Saturday?" he asks me amiably, lifting up a sheet on the notice board to check a notice I hadn't found yet.

"Uh…" I scratch the back of my head sheepishly, wondering how much to tell a total stranger, even if this stranger is being weirdly pleasant with me. Normally people don't want anything to do with me after the first few minutes of conversation. Did this guy not get the memo?

"I've kind of fallen out with my housemates," I tell him, deciding to stick to the truth. "So I need a new place to stay and fast. I thought I might find something…what?"

The guy freezes up like something's bitten him in the ass and turns round agonizingly slowly, like the serial killers in the old movies to fix me with an unnervingly hyper gaze.

Seriously, how much sugar has this guy ingested recently?

"You've got to be shitting me," he says in the kind of voice you'd associate with telling someone they've just won the lottery.

"What?" I repeat, alarmed by his tone and his over-excitement.

"Dude, that's just what I came to check out. We've got a spare room going at our place and we need someone to fill it ASAP!"

I feel a stirring in my gut akin to a pleasant spark of hope and briefly struggle with myself. By nature I'm an optimist but there are certain times in life where one has to be a realist first a foremost.

"What kind of rent do you want? If it's in the general ball park of these then there's no-

The guy shaking his head cuts me off. Platinum locks fly around his face until they're in disarray.

"It's a box room," he tells me excitedly. "We only need half rent for it if you're willing to put in with the bills evenly. The house is just over a mile from the university."

It's too good to be true, way too good. What's the catch? Why haven't they already got someone to fill this space?

"It sounds good right?" the guy is saying, practically vibrating in front of me. "And you're in a pinch right?"

The feeling of steady excitement dulls within me as I remember just why I have to find somewhere new to live in the first place but somehow, this guy's smile is infectious and I find myself realising that another opportunity like this might never come along. No-one ever stays talking to me for this long in a friendly manner, not even Sakura managed it when we first met.

"If I agree to this, you gotta promise not to be like…a house of serial molesters or something," I say warily, my words slurring slightly as I struggle to stay completely conscious. At this rate, I'll take anywhere with a bed.

There's a curious twinkle in this guy's eye as he wraps his arm around my shoulder and steers me away from the notice board in the direction of the student registration office.

"Ha! No promises there sunshine," he tells me in a joking tone and I narrow my eyes at him, even though I can tell that he isn't serious.

"My name's Naruto," I tell him through a half suppressed yawn.

"Oh? Naruto huh? I'm Suigetsu, pleased to meet you."

* * *

_Hooray for fate and meddling authors! SHOOP SHOOP! Much appreciation to all those that even think about reviewing. _


	3. Sasuke 2

_AN: Yay update! (does a little dance) I'm really glad that so many people seemed to like this story, it's seriously the most popular thing I've ever written. The reviews I received last time really encouraged me to continue!_

* * *

**3: Sasuke**

There are 3 things that I have to acknowledge as I leave the party to keep the last of my crippled sanity:

The first is that I am a young human male so despite the fact that there is a large logical section of my brain, the bit that sounds most like the essence of myself, telling me that I don't need to concern myself with the petty issue of 'love' because there is nothing I can gain from something so fundamentally useless, I am still susceptible to the same chemical concoctions as everyone else. Grudgingly, I've been forced to admit that Ibiki was right, no-one is safe.

To put it colloquially: 'I've been got and got good'.

The second is that despite the fact that I have acknowledged that I am no more than human and thus have been stung by Cupid's arrow to put it in a more poetic way, even though I have therefore been given the opportunity to prepare myself, I have not managed to curb the 'drug-like' effects of this…_condition _at all. As soon as Naruto leaves, I'm hit with such a _need_, a maddening, pulsing craving that is so powerful it almost hurts to breathe without him. My skin feels impossibly cold without the summer of his eyes exuding warmth and when I blink, his image, so defined, flashes against the dark of my eyelids for a split second like a Goddamn still. His departure seems to have taken all the colour out of the world so I'm left with an inadequate black and white movie in place of the usual blockbuster.

It's like biting into an apple, expecting to experience the sweet taste, the satisfying crunch of ripe flesh only to find that you've bitten into a wax replica and are chewing on something entirely unsatisfying.

I never expected the chemical release to be so…potent.

The third is that through the onset of my…_condition…_I managed to be a complete ass to him.

He threw me for a loop, my reaction to his appearance catapulted me way out of my comfort zone and I reacted defensively, lashing out at him for causing me distress. It was natural at the time…natural and disastrous. Normally, despite my outwardly acerbic attitude, I'm pretty good at diffusing conflict in a situation but obviously, with such a regrettable lack of control, chaos is sure to follow.

Not that I will _ever _admit to losing control.

Uchihas don't lose control.

Not even when they've come face to face with divinity itself. Not even when anything slightly beautiful in the world has been sucked in and concentrated in a single hot spot, in a single perfect form. Not even when I can remember the perfect tone of his voice, can imagine the interlacing of his lithe, tanned form beneath me whilst that voice moans my na-

I make to sit down on the pavement only when I realise I've been holding my breath so long that little spots are starting to fold in over the edges of my eyes once more but a firm hand catches me and I'm glancing up into Tobi's masked face. My stomach is churning violently and I have to really push to stay conscious as Suigetsu comes up on my other side, frowning at me in serious concern.

I breathe doggedly.

"I don't _think _he's been drugged," Tobi says after a moment or two of examining my eyes.

I can feel the faint stirrings of irritation in my gut and I know that normally I would be pissed off about their assumptions and their misplaced concern but at the moment, I'm too pumped full of insanity to really care about what they think. Conflicting thoughts crash together like storm clouds in my brain, creating luminous forks of lightning that throw my comprehensive patterns into overdrive.

I _need _to see him again…but what if he doesn't want to see me after what I said…it doesn't matter, eventually he'll know exactly how intensely I feel about him…but I _shouldn't _see him again if I ever want to get over this…if it's a drug then I've had my first taste, I shouldn't become an addict…

"Sasuke, are you drunk?" Suigetsu asks me incredulously as he hails a taxi. "Why was that guy trying to punch your lights out? I know there are a couple of guys that wouldn't mind taking a swing at you but honestly, watching you with whatever his name is was like watching those crazy Spanish guys baiting the bulls in Spain, he was really riled."

That's very well put actually, that's exactly what it felt like I was doing, baiting the bull.

_It was awesome._

"Naruto," I mutter out nonsensically as I shrug Tobi off and start pacing along the pavement. The air is slightly nippy but the icy sensation that washes over my exposed skin simply feels like an ice pack to the heat I feel like I'm radiating after allowing his name to pass over my lips. It's like the name itself is made of fire.

"His name is Naruto," I clarify when I finally register Suigetsu's clueless expression.

Sometimes I really hate the fact that I value true perception in my friends and sometimes, I really hate the fact that I'm not very well in touch with the more…vulnerable aspects of my freshly perceived human nature and am thus unable to hide myself as well as I might like.

Suigetsu frowns for a minute, watching me and his eyes are dark with pensiveness.

"Why should that-

And he cuts himself off with his own expression. His eyes widen comically, his eyebrows shoot into his hair-line and to top it all off, a grin explodes over his face like a firework, a bright burst of colour in this now sepia tainted world.

"Oh no way," he says, staggering backwards as I scowl at him to confirm his suspicions, itching to punch him the face the same way that Naruto punched me not that long ago.

"You can't be serious," Suigetsu repeats, unperturbed as I raise a warning fist at him. "Sasuke Uchiha, Sasuke _fucking _Uchiha has actually gone a got himself a crush!"

I am well aware of the fragile state of my hyped up emotions at the moment, am aware that I'm not quite in my right mind and yet I can't help seeing red in a truly un-Uchiha like fashion as Suigetsu comes to his conclusion, a conclusion that makes me sound like some dithering school girl, and procures it loudly to the street before erupting in vicious laughter. It takes all of Tobi's upper body strength to hold me back from falling on him like a frenzied lion and tearing him limb from limb, something I am well equipped to do.

Eventually, Suigetsu seems to catch the glint of real murderous intent in my eyes or he simply sees the edge of the manic smile that's gracing my lips as I struggle against Tobi because he clams up, suddenly appearing sober.

Well, as sober as somebody can look when their eyes are sparkling like a kid that's eaten too much sugar.

"This is way too much dude, you're killing me," Suigetsu comments as I make no real move to deny his accusation, something I sorely want to do but can't. The whole thing is still too fresh for that. Denying my infatuation will only cause it to fester.

"So you find someone you're actually interested in and the first thing you do is make him hate you, sounds about right."

Why is he still speaking? Why haven't I murdered him yet? Why haven't I simply forgotten about the guy at the party and treated the whole encounter as I normally would, with vague contempt?

I can still remember the perfect upward tilt to the edge of his eyes, the way the blue in them seemed to deepen towards the pupil, like looking from a bird's eye view into the true depths of the ocean.

God, I need someone to beat some sense into me. Thinking such mooning, drivelling nonsense…it's just not like me.

I eye Tobi sceptically as we pile into the taxi and Suigetsu fishes in his back pocket for his wallet to pay the driver. If I was going to ask either of these retards to hit me back to reason, it would be Tobi. Occasionally, when he gets particularly…_excited, _he'll slap someone on the back and they always complain that it's a bit too hard. Then again, I can just imagine the look in his eye if I requested such a thing…I don't particularly want to miss out on important classes because I've been unconscious in hospital for a long period of time.

"What did you _say _to him?" Suigetsu asks, his eyes still infuriatingly shiny as he regards me.

I growl at him, not really wanting to impart much information on our brief interaction. It'll only make me realise all over again what a jerk I was, how much I revelled in pushing Naruto's buttons…

I'd _really _like to push _all _of his buttons…preferably at once.

Somebody please shoot me.

Suigestsu's eyes become briefly clouded as he watches me, taking on an expression of concern as he pulls back, glancing out the window.

"That bad huh?" he asks, knowing me far too well.

I can't help sighing as the taxi pulls into our road, tugging at a longer lock of dark hair sitting by the side of my face. Due to the shower I had before the party, the strands are soft between my fingers and I feel slightly comforted by the sensation, despite the disastrous situation.

I don't suppose, in the long run, it matters much if I've caused upset to a stranger that just happens to…_invoke that kind of reaction. _I can't imagine that such a tie would aid my progress in life; it won't help me to further my ambitious goals. Ultimately, it'll only prove to be a liability. If I was truly as sensible as I always thought I was, I would chalk the whole thing up to an unpleasant experience, make a very serious note that this kind of infatuation is actually a possibility for me and take active steps to insure it will not become a problem in the future.

It doesn't matter that, due to my panic, I may have ruined any chance I may have had to speak with him again, to hear the not-so-subtle tone of his voice, to catch a brief glimpse of a genuine smile…

I shuffle into the house and squint as I turn on the light in the living room. The movement in my face causes an aching thrum to resound through the injury on my cheek, a painful reminder of my own weakness and, at the same time, of _his _existence. With a sure hand, I stretch up to feel at the swelling, my fingers brushing tentatively over the spot where we were briefly connected, skin on skin.

I can feel the residual shock of his connecting punch under my fingers, like little static pulses left behind after a lightning storm.

Suigetsu sidles in behind me and heads to the kitchen. In a moment, I can hear the sound of the kettle popping and know that he's going about making tea. I suppose I appreciate it, though he got far too much amusement out of my distress this evening to placate me with tea. I sink down on the couch and Tobi does the same, his face tilted slightly upward to indicate that he's thinking hard.

Just as I'm about to ask him what he's thinking though normally I would be completely disinterested, he turns to me, a very sombre look in his eyes.

"Do you think we have any sticky buns left?"

I'm not sure if it's the inanity of that statement settling on top of the night's heinous events that does it but suddenly I'm wearier than I've ever felt before. I stand without uttering a word and make my way purposefully to the stairs, trudging up to my bedroom whilst ignoring Tobi's strangled:

"Oi!"

My bedroom looks strangely sparse as I open the door and flick on the light, uninviting.

_Not at all like Naruto._

I contemplate simply falling into bed, night time routine be damned but I know I'll only be worse off for aching teeth and a shirt collar poking me in the neck the next morning so I make a point of grabbing my usual sleep wear and shifting to the bathroom. As I pass the stairs in the hallway, I can just make out Suigetsu's voice floating up from the living room.

"Eh? He's gone to bed? But I wanted to tease him some more, I even got the steak out to put on his black eye! If he doesn't do something about it tonight, he'll have a proper shiner tomorrow!"

I contemplate the absurd comments that will probably follow me if I let this budding black eye bloom as it wishes but when I close my eyes and lean down to spit out toothpaste, I inadvertently replay the moment that Naruto's shirt rode up, revealing the tiniest expanse of golden skin and realise that I couldn't care less if the black eye ends up shadowing the entire left side of my face.

I refuse, absolutely _refuse_, to leave the house tomorrow. That way nobody has to acknowledge the damn bruise and I won't have to endure asinine comments.

Problem solved.

* * *

When I hear the knock on my door in the morning, it takes me a moment to weigh up the pros and cons of ignoring my visitor entirely or opening the door and decapitating them on sight. I'm just about to act in favour of ignoring my visitor but the smell of freshly cooked omelette wafts under the fire door and I find myself gravitating towards it despite myself. Suigestsu's eyes widen slightly as I pull the heavy door to, fixing him with my best and most coveted death glare.

"What," I say, enunciating the word and snatching the omelette out of his hand in a display of smooth dexterity, "do you want?"

Suigetsu actually has the decency to look a little apologetic and I realise that his reaction to my unfortunate circumstances yesterday may have at least partially been a result of inebriation.

Not that I'll forgive him so easily.

When he doesn't say anything immediately, I make to close the door in his face with a curt snap but he reads my movements before the door can fall into place and sticks his foot out, stopping the thing before it can close.

If at all possible, my glare intensifies.

"I'm sorry I was a little…insensitive about the whole thing yesterday," Suigetsu mumbles, rubbing the back of his head.

If it were anyone else standing at my door offering a choked out apology, then I would probably shove them back so I could finish closing the door on them but because this is Suigetsu, I let it slide. Suigetsu has the same attitude to his own opinions as I have to my own. No matter what, he is _always _correct, without fail so to hear him offering an apology like this is something of a ground-breaking event. It's not to be taken lightly.

I keep my eyes on him for a good few minutes, reading his body language, noting the way he bites his lip and shifts uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Then slowly, I let my eyes rove to the omelette.

It really is well made.

Carefully, I shift the plate so it's balanced on one hand and pick up the fork, slicing into the soft egg and spooning a corner into my mouth. I have to stop myself from sighing out my appreciation because the blend of smooth texture and savoury flavours is so subtle.

This is the closest thing to acceptance that Suigetsu is going to get and he seems to realise this, beaming at me and following me into my room so he can sit on the edge of my bed while I eat at my desk.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" he asks me as I practically inhale the omelette.

"Because you look like shit."

I don't bother glaring or getting pissed off at him for this. After what he managed to do at the door, he's not exactly trying to antagonise me now, he's just stating fact. Last nights events have been running on a continuous loop in my mind like I'm broken, like no other point in my life will ever be as important as what transpired between myself and Naruto and I know that so I can do nothing but replay it continuously. Of course, with my mind running on overdrive and my heart still pounding every time I remember the way he moved, or the way his eyes drilled through me, I haven't slept a wink.

I feel like I've been hit repeatedly with a jack hammer and this, kids, is why drugs are bad. This stupid chemical imbalance in my system has completely undone me.

To make it all that much worse, Suigetsu's eyes keep flitting over to my left cheek where the discolouration has started to show up in earnest, black and blue interweaving to act like some sort of ugly tattoo.

"I knew I should have bugged you last night about putting a steak on that," Suigetsu grumbles darkly.

I pause as I lift the last of the omelette up to throw him a bemused look.

"Wouldn't the frozen peas be better for something like that? They are packaged," I point out.

"Nah, my mum always said that the blood in the meat helps to keep the bruising under control. It's a crock of shit but it always made me feel better when she said it."

Suigetsu shrugs like it's no big thing but oddly, the sentiment of using the steak on my eye the same way Suigestu's mum might have used it on him makes me feel a prickling of vague affection. It's a strangely intimate gesture to use a family remedy on someone that is very definitely not family and one that makes me realise that Suigetsu is probably the best friend I have.

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to come up the university to check the notice board for another lodger today," Suigetsu suggests, running his hand along my dark blue bed spread.

"I know you probably don't want to be out and about today but holing yourself up in here is probably gonna make you more depressed and if I leave now then you'll be stuck here by yourself with Tobi. He seems to have taken something of a special interest in this whole…uh…thing."

The warning catches me off guard and I stiffen in my seat, thinking of just what could happen to me if left alone with an inquisitive Tobi for the day. I was hoping to spend this particular Saturday moping, thinking seriously about finding a cure for this accursed 'love drug' and, if I stop agonising over the whole thing for 5 Goddamn minutes, taking a seriously long nap. If I can get this all out of the way today, perhaps I can think about studying for the exams on Sunday without too much fear of distraction.

It's just my luck to have this happen just before the exams. Fate is testing me, I can feel it.

"Alright," I concede through clenched teeth, unaware that I'd had such a violent reaction to the idea of staying home with Tobi…or being forced to go outside today…both are good reasons to feel violent.

Suigetsu gives me a sympathetic smile and takes the plate I was just using in his free hand as he stands again.

"That's the spirit."

* * *

As Sod's law would have it, the first person I encounter upon setting foot on campus is Haruno Sakura. I really do have to applaud the fates for this one because I barely see Sakura around campus during the week even though we have 2 of the same classes and it's a Saturday just before lunch time, an obscure time for a student to be anywhere near the main campus.

As soon as she sees me, she freezes in place, her green eyes widening under long lashes and her slim hand flying up to cover her mouth in shock. Obviously, she's spotted the black eye already and has reacted accordingly. I bite back the insult that I want to throw at her for gaping so openly because there's absolutely no point in getting annoyed with someone who is simply responding to an unexpected sight and subtly pick up my pace so I won't have to stop and try to converse civilly when I'm feeling so blatantly hostile.

If I manage to upset her and it gets back to Naruto…

Not only that but I'm tempted…oh so tempted…to ask questions about the illusive blonde. If I'm serious about trying to get over this stupid…_reaction_ then I really need to be strong about not seeing him.

"That was kinda rude wasn't it?" Suigetsu asks lazily beside me as we amble through the student building to the cafeteria where he's promised to buy me a Cappuccino. "You shouldn't blank pretty girls like that Uchiha, you'll get on the bad side of the guys as well you know."

Like I care.

…Unless it's Naruto…

But no, I shouldn't care about that either.

Besides, I'm unsure of how much more I can actually _get _on his bad side. Perhaps if I push it so much, it'll form a circle and I'll have gotten on his bad side so much, I will have accidentally gotten on his good side.

Suigetsu joins the queue at the coffee counter and I pick a seat near the window, wondering vaguely what Naruto is doing right now. Truth be told, I assumed he would be with Sakura and if he's not, then that might mean that she took our fight a lot harder than I really thought she would, not that I gave that aspect of our little altercation more than a fleeting once over.

Of course, we all got back pretty late last night so perhaps he's still sleeping.

Is he a late sleeper? Does he rise as the sun trickles through his curtains at midday or later, woken by nacreous rays dancing along the golden locks of-

"Sasuke!"

Resist urge to groan as the owner of the high pitched voice comes into view, a short, petite girl with dark red hair and eyes such a distinct shade of brown that they're almost cherry coloured. She's wearing a pair of glasses which, in this particular light and at the angle she's standing, makes the colour appear that much more vibrant…or it would if I wasn't still subjected to the sepia taint that infected my world when Naruto left last night.

However stunning her cherry coloured eyes are, they'll never match the perfect blue of his limitless gaze…

"Good morning Karin," I respond blankly, wincing as she drops down in front of me on the only available chair, anticipating the bickering that this is sure to cause when Suigetsu appears with my drink. Smiling at me in that flimsy fan girl way, she reaches up to remove her glasses, placing them on the table in front of her.

"Is it true that some random douche bag _punched _you last night?" she asks, looking at me from beneath her lashes and reaching forward with her free hand to try and cup the bruise on my face. Without thinking too much, I swat her hand away with my own. Aside from the fact that I don't like to be touched at the best of times, I'm afraid that if she touches this cheek, the spell that has surrounded it since Naruto's hand made contact will dissipate and I'll no longer feel those tiny static sparks every time I brush my finger across the swollen surface.

As you can see, I'm making real progress in getting over my _problem._

Where the hell is Suigetsu?

"He wasn't a random douche bag," I tell her, leaning out a little to catch a glimpse of Suigetsu who's talking vaguely with someone he's caught up with from his course. "We had a misunderstanding."

No need to go into more detail really, she'd probably just find a way to blame it all on Naruto. One of the irritating things about these fan girls is that they're constantly justifying my actions to themselves. If you don't agree with me, just say something, I'll happily prove you wrong.

"Oh Sasuke, you don't have to cover for the loser that-

The tip of her little finger brushes the edge of my thumb and I recoil harshly, cutting her off. When I next look at her, I can feel my eyes pool with cold loathing and instantly try to re-arrange my facial expression into the usual stoic mask. Somehow though, just for today, I can't feign indifference. It's like meeting Naruto has stripped me of my mask and now everyone will be able to get the full glorious view of my charming personality.

"_Don't_," I hiss at her as I edge my chair back and stand stiffly.

"Touch me," I finish venomously.

And as to what the hell made me react to her fleeting touch like I've just been bitten by a poisonous snake?

Fuck knows.

Normally though I don't like the wandering hands of the fan girls, I can put up with a gentle brush here and there, a lingering touch but today…

My nerves are still on fire from last night.

Karin fixes me with an expression of mild panic before retracting her hand and shoving it under the table. The colour of her cheeks has paled considerably and her lips have pulled down at the corners, like she's trying not to burst into tears.

_This _is exactly the reason I avoided Sakura so vehemently a moment ago.

Thankfully, Suigetsu picks now to make his grand re-appearance, cutting me off from causing further issue with Karin by opening my big mouth and reprimanding her further for being something of a cry baby. Why can't she just hit me like Naruto did? A good punch to the face would disperse all the tension, absolve me of any wrong-doing and put us back on even ground.

Why do girls always have to play the victim?

"Aw Karin? Why'd you have to put in an appearance now and make Sasuke revert into Mr Thunder Cloud?" Suigetsu asks tactlessly, shoving my Cappuccino into my waiting hand and sitting down in my recently vacated seat.

"He was only just starting to lighten up after last night."

Tch, Suigetsu's almost as much of an idiot as Naruto was yesterday. Seriously, was I the only one that learnt about reading a situation before blithely throwing a comment into the mix or being conscientious of others?

Thankfully, Karin is not the type to fully play up the wet blanket act. Instead, her eyes flash dangerously as she slips on her glasses and adjusts them so they catch a momentary glint of the sun outside. The effect is a little like looking at the shine on a knife.

"Suigetsu, if anything, it was _your _approach that made Sasuke angry. Anyone would be angry if they had to look at that smarmy face all day, doesn't he get enough of you when he's at home?"

Karin's voice has taken on a bitter tinge and we're back to this. Every time Karin and Suigetsu meet face to face, Karin almost always, without fail, brings up the fact that we did not allow her to live with us when Tobi requested house mates for this year. The reason for that was mostly my sanity – living with a fan girl was bound to have adverse side effects on not only my school work but the attitude of my housemates towards me. Suigetsu for one voiced a very strong opinion on how nauseating it would be to have a house mate that acted more like an arm accessory for me than another living person so we unanimously decided that it would be an all male house. In the end, we were left with a box room that nobody would take and a notice in the student building asking for someone to contact us.

"He was doing fine until you showed up," Suigetsu points out truthfully, eyeing her with distaste and Karin bristles, folding her arms across her relatively flat chest.

As the two of them continue to throw increasingly cutting comments at each other, I realise that I'm starting to get a headache. It's beginning as a light pounding behind the eyes but if I don't leave now, I realise it will probably erupt into a full scale migraine and I'll end up in an even worse mood than I was expecting to be in today. The fact that I didn't sleep at all is weighing on me heavily now, making my eyes sting and my sinuses feel like they've swollen to twice their usual size.

"I'm going home," I say decisively, quashing the increasingly heated argument in one fell swoop.

"Huh? But we haven't checked the notice board yet," Suigetsu whines incredulously, folding his arms across his chest like a petulant child.

Because whether or not he is able to check the notice board depends entirely on my presence.

"I am tired; last night was hard on me. I'm going home to try and get some rest so that I can try and prepare for my upcoming exams without further distractions," I spout off easily, uncaring that I've just admitted weakness in the face of Karin.

I give Suigetsu a final look, the kind of expression that encourages him not to argue if he values his manhood and take off at a brisk pace along the corridor, firmly not paying attention to Suigetsu's parting remark as I open the door to the crisp Autumnal air outside.

"See what you did Karin? You made him leave!"

* * *

By the time I make it home, I can barely process a cognitive thought, my mind spiralling into a useless haze of half remembered conversations and flashing images of bright blonde locks underneath neon lights. As I crawl up the front steps and dig out my keys, I decide that as much as I want to fall into bed and just pass out for a good few hours, I'm going to make some green tea first to help me relax.

At least then I won't be plagued with nightmares.

Tobi is sitting in the kitchen playing an inane game on his Nintendo and hardly looks up as I saunter in, fishing in the cupboard for a tea bag which I drop into my favourite mug, a dark blue cup with a thick rim that has a tiny replica of my family's crest printed on the outside, a gift from my brother before everything…

…happened.

I'm about to sink down into the chair opposite Tobi but remember Suigetsu's warning about Tobi's particular interest in my…_problem _at the last moment and change my mind, angling my feet so they'll take me to the kitchen door and back towards the stairs.

"Sasuke, can I ask you something?"

I freeze when Tobi speaks in an abnormally serious voice, my foot hovering over the floor where I was about to step.

I briefly entertain the thought of throwing down my mug of tea and making a break for it but understand that this is not a realistic response to his question. Knowing that I have no way of avoiding this, I throw a cautious glance over my shoulder, raising my eyebrows in semblance of an invitation to continue.

Tobi's eyes connect with mine and a shiver rolls through me. For a good 5 minutes, we simply stare at each other and I get the impression that I'm being measured. The sensation makes me think, for one eccentrically paranoid moment, that Tobi knows Naruto and has deemed my response to him just a little too creepy. Perhaps he's about to threaten me to stay away, not exactly an unfounded reaction after how pissed I got the blonde idiot yesterday.

Tobi opens his mouth and I take an involuntary breath inwards.

"Sasuke…are you a virgin?"

The glass in the door to the kitchen rattles spectacularly as I slam it behind me and stalk up to my room.

* * *

Suigetsu has to know, after the concise explanation I provided as to my planned whereabouts after leaving him in the café, that I'm in bed asleep. So why he feels the need to wake me up by throwing the front door closed so hard that it sends vibrations through the mattress in my room upstairs when he gets in, I have no idea. All I do know is that I'm going to do something unspeakable to him when I see him later for dinner, something that will insure he will never wake me up from a nap again.

Unless the world is ending…or Naruto's miraculously going to materialise in the house…these are the only exceptions to the rule of never wake Sasuke when sleeping.

A loud whoop follows Suigetsu's slamming door routine and I am forced to accept the fact that there is no chance of me going back to sleep. Something wonderful must have happened if he's willing to risk my wrath and I know within the next few seconds, he'll come bounding up the stairs like a pleased puppy to tell me the good news.

It better be good news after he's woken me up like this.

True to my estimations, just as I'm sitting up and shaking out my bed head, Suigetsu's brisk knock sounds on the door and I grunt to grant him entrance. When his head flies into my room, his eyes are impossibly shiny again – just like they were last night.

"Let me guess, our new lodger is Kisame Hoshigaki," I say with a small smirk.

Kisame Hoshigaki is the only person that Suigetsu has ever admired. He's openly admitted that Kisame's technique with water colours is the reason he chose to pursue art at university level and it constantly frustrates him that he's unable to match the beauty of the techniques shown in Kisame's work. Inevitably, this means that Suigetsu both loves and hates the man in equal measure and as someone that appreciates the more…passionate side of life, he'd like nothing more than to share a house with his idol and rival.

Suigetsu pulls a mockingly pained face as he scampers into my room and perches on the edge of my bed.

"You taunt me Uchiha," he says wistfully, meeting my smirk with a smile of his own.

"No, it's not Kisame but it _is _good news about our lodging situation."

After my jibing comment, his enthusiasm for his news seems to have dulled somewhat but as he builds up the suspense once more and I actually appear to be interested, the twinkle returns to his eye in full force, a grin stretching across his face dangerously.

"We got a response?" I ask hopefully, wondering if I'll be able to save up some money to invest in mad science-like anti-love potions to cure myself of this…_problem _I have.

"Yeah and not just any response," Suigetsu says, practically vibrating in his seat. "You know I found the guy just sitting on the benches when I made it to the notice board? He was looking for something cheaper than usual and completely missed our information because it was stuck under one of those band posters. Says he needs the place ASAP because of some issue with his current housemates."

Suigetsu's blatant lack of name dropping is starting to irritate me slightly but I can't deny I'm getting into the build up a little bit.

"Well," I mutter, a little impatiently. "Who is it? What's his name? He's got to be someone important if you've got that sugar rush look about you."

The shine in Suigetsu's eyes practically doubles as he leans closer. I shift back a little automatically, uncomfortable with the proximity.

"Sasuke, our new lodger is Naruto."

* * *

_Tee hee, what a wonderful place to end this chapter. Please continue to review if you can, it really does inspire me to continue._


	4. Naruto 2

_AN: Tadamada! Another update for you because people really seem to like this story! Thank you so much for the reviews and the favourites and whatnot! I love you guys._

_A small note of doom: Tobi's house is based on the house I used to occupy in second year. Isn't that interesting?_

* * *

**4: Naruto**

I take one last look around the room that was mine for a whole two weeks before sighing animatedly and bending down to pick up the last cardboard box. As I straighten, I catch sight of Sakura standing in the doorway looking torn but determined and offer her a small smile to let her know that I don't think badly of her for doing this.

If this is what she feels needs to be done then that's fine with me.

Tucking the box under my arm and trying to ignore the swelling of nervousness in my chest, I stride towards the door, pausing only when I feel Sakura's soft fingers pressuring the edge of my long sleeved shirt.

I pause, planting my feet firmly and blink at her, waiting.

"You know…if it doesn't work out with these guys…you could always come crash on the couch for a night…alright?"

I stare at her, transfixed for a moment as the nervousness in the pit of my stomach morphs into a feeling of serious elation. Pressure that I didn't even know was still weighing on me after that fight with the bastard suddenly dissipates and I feel light as a feather. Sakura's suggestion, while not entirely wiping away the repercussions of that evening, at least confirms that she doesn't want to cut me out of her life entirely.

I'm not going to lose her for good.

Before I can stop myself, I've dropped the cardboard box on the floor and have wrapped her in a bear hug. She squeaks involuntarily as I bring her close and hold on tight.

"I really am sorry for all this," I whisper into her hair, the soft folds of pink warming under my breath.

"Just…don't do anything stupid with these new guys okay?" she says, pushing me off and smiling weakly at me. The grin that splits my face is huge as I pick up the box once more and amble downstairs. Not even the presence of Mizuki's usual scowl can put a dent in this euphoria as I wave to Sai and Ino and climb into the back of his car with the last of my stuff.

"Bye Naruto!" Ino calls out, jumping up and waving, probably glad to be rid of me in all honesty. Still, I respond to her enthusiasm, it's nice to have an amiable send off. Sai simply offers one of his bogus smiles and calls out:

"I'll miss you dickless!"

This last taunt makes me throw down the window and flip him off as we drive round the corner, accompanying this with a few of my more colourful insults as his face disappears from view. As I wind the window up and fall gracelessly back into my seat, Mizuki chuckles cruelly, his flint-like eyes meeting mine in the rear view mirror as he drives to my new place.

"I like that kid," he says earnestly, meriting a glare from Iruka.

"Yeah, well misery loves company," I retort immediately. "Perhaps you two can get together some time and start an asshole club."

"Naruto," Iruka snaps harshly, ever uncomfortable with our hostilities.

I grumble at his defence of the devil but have no wish to take it further today. I have too much to occupy my mind and sure enough, as we pull into my new road, my palms are so clammy that I have to wipe the excess moisture on the knees of my jeans. I bite my bottom lip as the house appears, a semi-detached place with diamond patterned windows and a fairly clean front door. It has a large front garden with a weeping willow hanging over the neighbour's fence and creeping ivy twining itself around the wooden support beams to the miniature porch.

Suigetsu opens the door as we pull up and I slide out of the back seat, grabbing my box. Pre-occupied as I am with juggling the box and shutting the car door, I fail to see who is standing with Suigetsu until I turn around and my eyes sweep the impressive bruise he has marring one side of his face.

Sasuke Uchiha.

For a couple of milliseconds, I do a marvellous impression of a guppy with my mouth opening and closing in shock before dropping the box and pointing at him with the most incriminating pointing finger I can manage to muster; the one usually only saved for those moments in Sherlock Holmes where the overall plot is finally revealed and the guy that you thought was an inconsequential bystander turns out to be the mastermind behind all evil plots ever conceived.

"YOU!" I shriek as a surge of adrenaline courses through me, quickly followed by a rolling wave of serious anger – a leftover from the night of hell.

The expression on his face is almost entirely apathetic as he regards me, only a slight twitch of the eyebrows indicating any sort of frustration at having to come face to face with the guy that dared to ruin his perfect good-looks. I can tell by the pull of my own facial muscles that I'm making a ridiculously over-dramatic face but hell, _someone _has to react appropriately to this outrage.

"Uh…you guys have met?" Suigetsu asks innocently and I turn my fantastically ugly expression over to him, suddenly remembering where I've seen him before.

"You!"

I turn my pointing finger on him and he at least has the decency to wince.

Ha, fear the power of the accusatory finger of doom!

"You set me up! What the hell? Please don't tell me this anal bastard is one of my new housemates!"

"Heh," Suigetsu manages, scratching the back of his head apologetically.

The shit is about to hit the proverbial fan but just as I'm taking a deep breath to begin the most epic rant of my life, Sasuke speaks up.

"Didn't you read the housing information before you agreed to stay here? My name is printed on there in big bold letters or was that too high of a reading level for you?"

A pronounced hush falls over us.

The edges of my vision begin to funnel inward, tainted an impressive incarnadine, until I can only see his smug face as he leans against the door frame in shades of red. His dark eyes are alight with malevolent triumph and I can feel my sanity slipping.

"You Goddamn bastard," I murmur. My hand feels like it's on fire, compressing itself into a fist and then releasing again as I struggle to breathe and reign in my rage. The bruise on his face and the repercussions of the last time I lost it against this guy are just enough to deter me from flying off the handle again. Plus that, Iruka's here and though he knows of my more…violent tendencies, I don't exactly want to make a stressful spectacle for him.

"Sasuke, dude, seriously? What the hell?" Suigetsu's wearyvoice filters through the thudding in my ears, a drum beat that lets me know just how mad I'm getting. I make a point of taking a few deep breaths and thinking calming thoughts, even though Mizuki is guffawing and looking at Sasuke with newfound appreciation.

"Oh, I like this kid even better," he says, locking his car and meandering forward.

As the red haze over my vision finally clears and I'm left with only the barest tingle in my arm and the desire to punch anything that moves I notice Sasuke's eyes flash dangerously as his eyes sift to Mizuki, a look of profound hatred showing up in those limitless black depths for a moment before disappearing once again under a mask of nonchalance.

It's almost like he can't stand the fact that someone else has managed to insult me.

Huh.

"I take it you're the one that Naruto punched on Friday night," Iruka says smartly as he wanders forward, throwing me a meaningful look as he passes me to stand before the ice prince.

Sasuke simply grunts and I have to concentrate on biting back a newly enhanced punching impulse.

No-one is rude to Iruka.

Surprisingly, Iruka is the one that bows his head, his eyes downcast and repentant. The locks of straight brown hair in his ponytail fall forward slightly, brushing his ears.

"I apologise on Naruto's behalf," he says evenly and I make an involuntary noise of alarm before Sasuke can respond to this.

"Hey, wait a second Iruka, he was the ass that started-

I'm cut off by a hand on the back of my head, shoving me down until I'm in the same remorseful pose as Iruka, my arms outstretched and flailing wildly as I try to regain my balance.

"I would very much appreciate it if you gave Naruto a second chance. He's a little brash and he doesn't think before he acts-

"Hey!"

"But he's a good kid and he'll make a loyal friend."

I stop struggling against Iruka's grip and turn my head slightly so I'm fixing him with an expression of surprise, an unnerving jolt of affection growing up and churning through my stomach.

He really does care about me.

Silence falls over the party for a moment and I chance a glance at Suigetsu who is watching Sasuke warily. The bastard has his chin angled upwards; fixing us with an intent coal black gaze that oozes superiority. From this specific angle, he kind of reminds me of snake – handsome, charismatic enough to appear cool but completely unfeeling, reptilian, like his blood runs cold…

…which is why the warm words and the distinct change in the tone of his voice catch me completely off guard.

"It's fine."

My eyes widen slowly, locking with his as he drops his head and something seems to shine through the darkness, a tiny pinprick of light in a vast, morbidly dark ocean. I gape openly at it for a few tense minutes before Suigetsu interrupts our staring match, throwing his arm around Sasuke's shoulders, an action I'm sure has just brought about his imminent demise but to my never-ending surprise, Sasuke neither throws him off or bites his head off for being so familiar.

"Now that's sorted, Naruto, why don't you check out the box room and I'll just…help you bring in the other stuff from the car k?"

Iruka tosses Suigetsu a grateful smile as he darts forward and I bend down to pick up the box I dropped. As I straighten, I find my eyes meet Sasuke's once more and suddenly I have no idea what sort of expression to show the guy, after all, I am still pretty mad at him despite Iruka's apology on my behalf and his acceptance, a sure sign that he wants to drop the whole thing. The bruise on his face catches my attention and I wince inwardly, simultaneously pleased that I was able to inflict such damage on an asshole and massively remorseful because that probably hurts like hell.

He steps aside to let me through without a word as I approach the house and I nod my thanks, unable to verbally profess my gratitude when I'm afraid it'll come out cutting and it'll just trigger another avalanche of insults between us.

The house is a little weirdly laid out with a narrow living room off to the left and a kitchen through the back. There's a broken toilet with a shower and one of the bedrooms which I'm to learn is the oldest housemate, Tobi's. The door to his room is locked but the posters tacked haphazardly to the wood work give a little insight into a pretty strange character by the looks of things. I guess I can't really talk, I have an Ichiraku promotional poster that's always tacked up next to my bed and if that's not weird…

Upstairs there's another bathroom with a bath tub and a working toilet this time and to the right is Suigetsu's room. His door is open so I sneak a quick peek, noting the blank canvas' and the impressive aquarium stretched along the back wall. Suigetsu's bed is messy and on the wall is a collection of what look like authentic replica swords. I make a mental note to ask what this is all for when I next get the chance.

Sasuke's room is to the left and, as my luck would have it, my room is tacked gracelessly to the end, kind of like a glorified closet. Like Suigetsu's, Sasuke's door is slightly ajar and I can't help peering through the gloom into a Spartan bedroom, immaculately kept and sparse as hell.

It suits that anal bastard down to the ground.

It almost doesn't look like a student's room; the only thing giving away any sort of personal preference is the simple white and red fan design on his bed spread.

Just as I'm leaning closer to see if I can make out anything else, the door snaps shut in my face and I find myself looking into irate obsidian eyes, eyes that seem to be barely containing a lightning storm of anger.

I gulp involuntarily and push back into my own tiny room.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Sasuke hisses through bared teeth, his knuckles white as he grips the handle to his door.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I just thought that-

"No, you _didn't _think. My room is my private property Uzumaki, what makes you think you can just snoop around in there as you please? What gives you the right to invade my personal space?"

There's an undertone in his voice that I can't quite catch the meaning of but I brush it aside in favour of bristling at his words, my own eyes flashing.

"You were the one that left the door open you pretentious prick! It's not my fault if something happened to catch my eye in passing!"

"The courteous thing to do would be to ignore it until I felt the need to invite you into my space but I guess you never learnt any manners."

I can't take this, I honestly can't. Was all that 'it's fine' business outside just for show so he didn't make another enemy out of Iruka? What is this jerk's problem? Why does everyone I meet have such an adverse reaction to me?

My temper getting the better of me, as it tends to do considering I'm such a hot blooded creature; I throw the box into my room and prepare for a throw down. I'm not stupid enough to fling the first punch again but he needs to know that I'm not gonna take this kind of treatment lying down.

"I really don't get you Sasuke," I say to him, enunciating his name with barely suppressed revulsion. "It's not like I fucking picked the lock and rifled through your underwear drawer, I just happened to glance into your room because the door was open, it's not a state crime."

Following my little outburst, we both angle ourselves forward so we're pushing into each other's personal bubble, trying to unnerve each other. The air is charged with tiny static pulses of fury and his eyes are mercilessly shadowed, brimming with hatred. I've never experienced such an intense level of loathing before and I know that when we break this stalemate, the extremity of it will leave me reeling. For the time being though, I refuse to back down. I won't give in to his pressure and I won't be walked over.

_I refuse to lose to him._

Eventually, Sasuke is the one to break eye contact and I do a mental dance of victory, continuing to glare at him though my eyes are threatening to shrivel up from lack of moisture.

"Tch, just stay away from my room," Sasuke growls out, pivoting smartly and disappearing into his lair of evil, shutting the door with a pointed crack.

As soon as he's out of sight, I blink frantically, clearing the sting of the insane staring match from my vision. Suigetsu appears a moment later, frowning at Sasuke's closed door and putting an understanding hand on my shoulder. His eyes are sympathetic when I'm eventually able to focus on them, like I've just had a disagreement with a particularly mad teacher rather than a serious falling out with a new housemate.

"Took a peek at his room, didn't you?"

* * *

As Mizuki's the one with the car, Iruka can only stay long enough to help me clear the last of my stuff from the boot before he has to leave and I'm left with bags of clothes and various boxes of books and supplies strewn about the hallway as the day comes to a close. The orange light glides along the shiny finish on some of my text books as I haul them up to my bedroom and try to fit them into my tiny, allotted space. Suigetsu really wasn't kidding when he told me that this is a box room, there's barely enough space for my bed and my battered lap top is squashed under the window on the jutting window ledge rather than on a desk as usual. The storage units are built into the wall to discourage the use of protruding chests of drawers and wardrobes and I count myself lucky that I don't have a vast array of clothing to try and stuff in here.

As soon as my computer is up and running, I stick on some soft rock and before long, I find myself singing along to the familiar lyrics, bobbing my head as I struggle to find homes for some miscellaneous items, a deck of cards and a set of well worn guitar picks being amongst the junk.

I'm having something of a death match with one of my larger text books, trying to shove it into a space that is seriously far too small for it when I hear the knock on the door and grunt, hoping longingly that my unexpected visitor is a pizza guy complete with steaming hot pepperoni pizza and free Coke.

"Door's open," I yell out.

The door swings open and I curse valiantly as I manage to slip the first corner of the book into the too tight space only to pinch my skin in the process. The soft vocal sound behind me has me glancing back over my shoulder at my intruder, a scowl swimming into place as I see Sasuke leaning against the door frame, his eyes as harsh as ever.

"What do you want bastard?" I ask, not even bothering to attempt civility. Why the hell does he have to bother me again now, haven't we already been through enough of a discrepancy for one day?

A flicker of irritation surfaces in his face but then he seems to think better of saying anything and lets his eyes drop to the box in his hands, a box of CDs that I haven't got around to lugging upstairs yet.

My eyes narrow.

"What? My stuff still in the way or something?"

When I can see the recognisable shift of anger in his eyes, I turn back, pointedly ignoring him as I try to shove the text book into place, murmuring increasingly colourful curses under my breath. Engrossed in trying to control my slowly growing irritation with the damn thing, I don't actually register that Sasuke has moved across my room until he's standing right behind me. His dark hair sweeps down over my shoulder as he leans over, the tip of a cold finger running along the exposed skin on my hand until he's gripping the spine of the book. His breath flutters against my neck and as he pushes the book down so it's lying flat on the shelf, I feel my breath hitch in my throat.

I freeze as his slimmer torso presses against my back for a split second.

"You've got this in a flotsam heap Uzumaki, it's the least space efficient system I've ever seen," he says and though his voice is condescending as usual, it actually seems a lot softer than it was earlier when he was getting on my case for daring to lay eyes upon his belongings in his scared lair.

Speaking of which…

"H-hey, who gave you permission to come into my room Uchiha? Sh-shouldn't I fly off the handle now and get all anal about private property laws?"

His proximity is making my mouth run and, infuriatingly, it's making me stutter. He's so close that he's practically leaning on my shoulder and as I shift slightly to catch a glimpse of his reaction to my blatant ribbing in my peripheral vision, I can't help catching his scent briefly, like clean laundry, new paper and plant life.

I know, I'm a freak.

Not that I wasn't already but I'm getting seriously uncomfortable with this forward display of tactility. Clearing my throat, I shift out from under him until I'm leaning away over my bed, watching as he falls forward to concentrate on re-arranging my shelves or…whatever the hell he's doing.

My face has gone inexplicably hot but his cheeks are still frustratingly pale, like it honestly doesn't matter how close we just were. His eyes are still dull and dark.

Asshole probably just did that get a rise out of me.

Bastard.

I'm about to bring his attention to how much I don't appreciate sexual games of chicken but his low voice cuts me off.

"I'm…sorry about…the room thing earlier," he grinds out as he works, piling my books up in size order before frowning and starting to place them back on the shelves. I can feel my eyes bugging out as I watch him, realising instinctually that an apology from such a prick is nothing to take lightly. I wonder if he's ever had to apologise for anything in his life and I make a point of remaining quiet in case there's something else he needs to get out.

I notice belatedly as he swivels himself round to face me that he's managed to fit my books into their desired space with room to spare.

"I don't…I have an issue trusting new people, that's all," he tells me, as though this is nothing big to read into even though it obviously is.

Hey, I know all about trust issues dude, believe me.

It's a big thing to admit.

Grudgingly, I grin at him, almost laughing when his whole demeanour changes. For the first time, I watch as the epic overlay of bastardry falls away from this expression, leaving behind wide, wonder filled eyes and hesitant, parted lips. The tiny spark of light I thought I saw in the cold depths of his dark eyes has re-ignited with some force and I'm reminded of one of those bio-luminescent fishes struggling to survive in the deep sea.

"You know what? It's totally cool," I decide and suddenly it is. I'm generally not the type of guy to hold a grudge over something like that which was obviously irrational and self defensive. I'm not gonna forgive him so easily for the hits to my intelligence though – they were a more direct and personal attack, unforgivably cruel for the sake of being cruel and I'm not gonna forgive him for blanking Sakura, especially when she got so upset.

"You're still a bastard," I take pleasure in telling him, my grin widening to an impossibly smug size as his lighter expression darkens into a familiar snarl.

"And you're still an idiot," he says, getting my hackles up all over again. "Who doesn't know how to tessellate books to maximise space efficiency?"

"Hey, we're not all anal robots," I retort fluidly, moving to start sorting through the box he's just brought up. "And I don't like being called an idiot, or a moron."

Sasuke's smirk is quick and superior as he falls back into my computer chair. The way he's suddenly lounging on my favourite chair as though he owns the place makes me ball my hands into fists unconsciously.

"I call them as I see them," he sees definitively, idly glancing at the play list on my computer.

"Well you can stop 'calling' them because you see nothing," I say back and this time I'm unable to hold back on the bitterness that runs through my voice, the seriousness.

Luckily, Sasuke's the type that catches on quick and with one look at my face before he forms the first syllable of his obvious retort, he's dropped it in favour of paying attention whole heartedly to my computer set up. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding, relieved that he's not going to push me today. Last time he did that, he ended up with that impressive weave of black and blue blemishing one side of his perfect face.

"You know, I'm sorry about punching you the other day," I say under my breath, wondering if he'll hear me. "You really got under my skin asshole."

Not what I was going to say _at all _but whatever.

When his eyes catch mine, there's a strange expression on his face, almost like he's attempting to smile but the action is so foreign to him that he's sort of forgotten how…or never really knew in the first place.

"You know, I don't like being called an asshole, or a bastard."

My answering grin is easy and it completely overshadows his pathetic wash out of a smile but it's a start in the right direction.

"I call them as I see them," I respond dryly.

* * *

When my alarm breaks through the blissful darkness of sleep, I contemplate brutal alarm clock homicide before rolling over and simply giving the thing a love tap instead. I've never been one to approve of domestic violence after all, even if I did nearly have a showdown with the guy sharing my living space only yesterday. It's just general violence I don't have a problem with, heh.

This is an excellent exercise in self control, something I'm obviously gonna need if I'm actually going to live with Sasuke Uchiha of all people. Every day that my alarm clock survives will be another triumph of willpower.

It takes me a moment or two to orientate myself in the present. I desperately want to slip back into oblivion and forget my lectures for this morning considering everything that happened this weekend but I really can't skip out with exams so close and after class today, I have work.

I roll myself casually over my bed, successfully entangling myself in the most amazingly soft duvet and comforter combination I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing and to make matters worse, I can hear the torrential rain outside slamming sideways on my window.

The world does not want me to go to lectures today.

I mean seriously.

I roll sideways again and wake up fully when the sensation of freefall erupts in my gut and I end up sprawled out on my bedroom floor still cocooned in my blankets. After a brief struggle, in which the blankets nearly win and I am almost dragged to my most comfortable doom, I manage to get up and make my bleary way to the bathroom.

I think I mentioned somewhere that I don't drink coffee as a general rule because the stuff does not agree with me so I have no way of waking myself up properly in the morning, aside from beating myself over the head with an alarm clock or something.

Although that's not really an option considering my views on domestic violence and my need to practice self control.

Of course, in my still half asleep state, something I have no way of avoiding due to lack of coffee, I'm not likely to notice things like the noises of the shower in a new bathroom.

And who the hell leaves the door unlocked anyway?

It takes me a moment, as I stumble into the bathroom, yawning grandly, to realise what I've just walked in on and for a few seconds, I just stare dumbly at the obscured visual of the naked body in the shower.

Pale pale skin like the reflection of moonlight.

Slender build, all tight hard muscle and lean definition.

Firm ass cheeks.

_Shit._

I freeze in place, unable to tear my eyes away and unable to turn around and leave. It's a moment of serious horror, panic and…something _a lot_ less negative?

The hell is wrong with me?

With his back to the door, it takes Sasuke a moment or two to realise that someone has intruded and I do actually have a ridiculously slim window of escape but as luck would have it, a draft blows through the open door and Sasuke turns, his dark eyes fixing on me through the blurry barrier stopping me from seeing _everything _before I can gather my wits_. _

I try to keep my eyes trained on his. There is no way I will let them wander downwards now that he's turned around.

No way…

Huh, I think I'm slightly bigger than him. Go figure.

Unrestrained shock registers on his face, the most powerful emotion other than anger or hatred I've seen since we met but this is quickly replaced with the more familiar fury that I'm beginning to associate with the norm, his eyes sparking in absolute rage.

I expect him to fly off of the handle and come at me with a projectile aimed to knock me out cold but instead, when he speaks, his voice is chilling, dangerous, with the promise of murder sure to follow this little incident.

"Uzumaki."

My name drips with venom and I gulp involuntarily, taking a step back.

"What the fuck are you doing in here?"

"Uh…" I swallow noisily and tug at the collar of my over-sized pyjama shirt. "Grabbing my tooth brush?" I say with a sheepish grin, holding up the offending object still trying desperately to keep my damn eyes from wandering.

Well…from wandering again. It's not like I'm anything but human y'know?

Even through the hazy curtain, I can see the vein in Sasuke's temple throbbing animatedly. His fists are balled by his sides and his face is flush with heat and acute anger. His midnight black hair is plastered to his face and neck, trailing down the regal set of his jaw.

I'm gonna die.

I'm gonna die or I'm gonna have to spend that night on Sakura's couch while I look for another new place.

His stomach is like _washboard _flat, I swear…

"Get. Out." Sasuke commands in a wrathful tone, the kind of voice that sets my survival instincts on overdrive. Suddenly, I have the urge to run from the building screaming like a girl or to try and lunge at him with a meat cleaver.

Uh…not that I'm some sort of maniac or anything but you know what I mean.

I don't exactly need to be told twice and turn briskly on my heel, slamming the door closed behind me and leaning up against the hard wood, my heart careening against my chest like it's trying to escape. My hearing seems to have heightened substantially since the fear-induced adrenaline rush and I listen to the sound of the water as Sasuke continues to get clean after a moment.

As soon as I've confirmed I'm not going to be chased down the road by an irate Sasuke wielding the proverbial pitch fork, I feel my cheeks grow heated with the humiliation of the whole affair.

Because I just saw the guy that hates my guts most in the world naked.

I just saw _Sasuke Uchiha _naked.

And honestly speaking, he was kind of easy on the eyes if you ignore the instant, stand-offish rage and repellent aura. Maybe his personality as well…

Nice pert ass.

Well, one things for sure following that whole deal, I'm not exactly missing the coffee as a medium to wake up this morning.

* * *

_As always, reviews keep me writing this monstrosity so if you feel like it, please drop me a message._


	5. Sasuke 3

_AN: This chapter took a lot of heavy editing hits and I'm still not happy with it but there you go – it's not always going to be Shakespeare after all._

_A warning for slightly OOC Sasuke in this chapter but he's under a lot of stress heh. That and one of themes of this story is just how crazy love can make you act._

_Thanks for all the reviews and favs and whatnot guys, you keep me writing!_

* * *

**5: Sasuke**

Oh God.

He saw me.

He saw me, he saw me, _he saw me!_

Just waltzed right into the bathroom like he owned the place and had the gall to try and act like it wasn't an accident, that he was there for his _toothbrush._

_Why _didn't I _lock _the _door_?

I guess, when I think about it, it's because I had enough trouble trying to sleep last night knowing that Naruto was literally just a paper thin wall away that something trivial like locking the bathroom door in the morning was forgotten, wondering what he looks like as he slumbers and picturing what he wears – preferably nothing…

God.

What did he think? He looked pretty shocked and his eyes kept twitching, like he was fighting the urge to look down and size me up.

I'm going to kill him.

I'm going to kill him and bring him back to life so that I can kill him again or fuck his brains out.

Just in the name of revenge, you understand.

Despite the involuntary peep show, I've managed to drag myself out of the shower and back to my room. Naruto's bag is already gone from downstairs, indicating that he's left for the day and I don't know if I feel relieved or if I want to confront him about it now.

It's probably best that he's gone.

Once I've pulled on a pair of trousers and feel suitably better equipped to deal with the rest of the day, I throw myself down on the bed in a fit of rebelliousness and allow myself the satisfaction of groaning in horror.

How could this have happened? If I didn't scare him off with my psychotic reaction to having my space invaded yesterday, I sure as hell must have scared him off with the blinding visual of my bare ass coupled with what can only be described as a new level of anger when I realised he was actually _right there_.

I don't know if I'm madder at him for entering without thinking, myself for not locking the door or Suigetsu for inviting the guy that invokes this kind of _reaction _to live in our Goddamn box room.

Normally Suigetsu and Tobi have enough sense to notice when the shower is obviously running.

Ugh.

He really is a complete and totally clueless moron!

Caught up in a new wave of fury, humiliation and the potent wish to just roll over and die, I hardly notice Suigetsu's presence until his voice filters through the hard wood of my bedroom door.

"I can hear you grunting in there dude, if you're jerking off…"

"Fuck you Suigetsu!" I shout back, not bothering to try and curb the edge to my voice.

Silence follows this for a moment as Suigetsu processes this response and tries to decide how to answer my open display of repugnance.

Eventually, he does respond and he seems to have taken amusement from the whole thing rather than the offense I intended because I've decided that it _is _ultimately his fault for allowing this scenario to become a possibility. Unfortunately, he's not as easily riled as Naruto.

"As much as I know you'd like the privilege, I think I'll save myself for the right guy thank you very much. What's got you so bent out of shape? Have another fight with Naruto by any chance?"

He doesn't wait for my invitation, pushing the door to and slipping into my room with the kind of practiced ease that makes me frown. Sometimes, it really irks me how comfortable Suigetsu is invading my space but I think that's more to do with the fact that I no longer feel the need to fly off the handle about it. I don't enjoy becoming close to people – they're always a liability in the end.

"Not in so many words," I say with a pronounced sigh, throwing my head back into my pillow and contemplating simply suffocating myself and putting myself out of my misery.

He _saw _me.

His expression keeps flashing through my mind though it was obscured by the shower curtain. Did he approve in any way? All I can register from my memory is shock – a sign that he didn't plan to walk in on me out of maliciousness. After that there was just awkward horror and those flicking eyes.

"So what happened?" Suigetsu asks in mild curiosity as he starts trundling around my room, picking up my stuff for my first class and dumping it on the small of my back, an un-worded demand for me to start getting ready.

I push my face into the soft plush of my pillow so hard I'm surprised my nose doesn't tear through the fabric and press into the mattress.

"He walff in onf me inf uh showaffff," I tell Suigetsu as neatly as I can with a mouth full of pillow fluff.

Another pause.

I glance up to see if Suigetsu got the message and regret it when I find myself looking at a picture of confusion.

"Huh?" he asks intelligently.

Low on my usual self restraint, I pick up the pillow I was just trying to use to suffocate myself with and lob it at his head, knocking my lamp off of my desk for my troubles instead.

"He walked in on me in the shower!" I declare dramatically, rolling over on the bed so my back is facing Suigetsu and what is sure to be an expression I don't want to have to deal with.

Another moment of silence.

Then the unmistakable snort of hilarity.

I roll over, anger re-engaged when I see Suigetsu laughing hysterically, clutching onto my book case for support with one hand as he grasps his side with the other, tears of laughter streaming down his face. I don't think I've ever seen him look so happy.

And I don't think I've ever hated him so much.

"Oh…man…that's fucking priceless!" he manages between laughs and deep gasps of air.

I make no effort to stop a further upsurge of violent feelings towards Suigetsu and get off of the bed to advance on him, slapping him upside the head with vehemence which makes him sober up pretty quick.

"Ow dude!" he complains, rubbing at the back of his head and glaring at me.

I give him my best patented Uchiha scowl back and within a moment, he submits, rolling his eyes.

"So the guy saw you in the nuddy, big deal Uchiha. It's not like you've got anything to hide, you're like a model."

Suigetsu says it like its matter of fact and I'm not the sort to comment on a statement like that. As far as these things are concerned, I know that I am considered pretty attractive for the female populace and some guys have expressed interest in me as well. As previously mentioned, no-one has ever held my attention so I haven't particularly thought to care about stuff like that before.

Well…until Naruto…until _now_.

For the first time, I'm conscious of how my body must have looked to him. I want to know if he found me attractive in any way or if our previous, less the amiable encounters have totally taken away from what could have been a purely physical reaction. Does he even swing that way? He was with Sakura for most of the night at the party and the way that he looked at her…

Not that it matters.

It can't matter.

I'll go insane if I let it.

Suigetsu eyes me warily as I give up and resign myself to the fact that I have absolutely no chance of having a civil relationship with Naruto now. I was so…elated after we'd managed to exchange a few friendly words last night, a major improvement for me when all I ever want to do is undermine him and my…_reaction _to him and of course it's like one step forwards, two steps back.

My shoulders slump as I pull on a shirt and stuff my books into my satchel. By the time I'm pulling on my shoes downstairs and grabbing a granola bar from the kitchen, Suigetsu's expression has changed into something akin to revulsion.

"Yeesh Sasuke, it's not like somebody died, lighten up will you?"

I give him a look that would freeze hell over and stand, pointedly arranging my expression into the usual indifference. I take great care to remember what Ibiki told us about the way people might read me due to my body language and tone of voice, adjusting my stance so my shoulders are set rigidly in place, like I'm challenging people to ask what's wrong or to even look at me without getting frostbitten.

"I will not lighten up," I snap at Suigetsu. "I realise this hardly seems like a big deal to you but for me, it's nothing short of mortifying. If you don't plan on offering me concise solutions to my current problem or, alternatively, you do not feel like shutting up then you can walk to the university alone."

My eyes are steely as I finish my little tirade and Suigetsu blinks slowly. I've never felt the need to use this tone of voice with him before and it looks like he's trying to see how serious I am.

I keep my current glare relentless.

Eventually, he holds his hands up in mock surrender and pulls out a packet of pop tarts from his cupboard.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry," he concedes, throwing a concerned look at me as we leave the house together.

We walk in silence for a while through the rain and despite how my thoughts are circling the incident this morning and how much my stomach clenches as I go over every detail again and again, I can't help but wonder what Naruto would look like in this rain, with his blonde hair slightly darkened by the wet, clinging to the side of his face. Rivulets of water would glide down the smooth plain of his face over those whisker marks and that full mouth, making it glisten slightly. If he was wearing a white shirt, it would be transparent in seconds and would cling to his body in the sort of way that would define his muscles. It would work perfectly with the tanned skin and-

"Sasuke, you're starting to scare me man."

It takes me a moment to clear my head and to check discreetly if I have another problem to now deal with. Luckily, I decided to wear my baggier trousers today; perhaps the gods of embarrassment have taken pity on me. I realise that I've missed my turn on campus to get to Kurenai's class and have half walked Suigetsu to his art class.

I curse inwardly and turn around to double back, not bothering to bequeath a farewell wave to Suigetsu who just blusters after me in the rain. It takes an extra 5 minutes for me to get to class but thankfully I still manage to get there before Kurenai who's the kind of teacher that won't tolerate tardiness. I take my usual seat and try to ignore the stares of my fellow students as they saunter in. I'd all but forgotten the bruising on my face due to this morning's misfortune and the extra attention is more unwanted than usual.

Eventually, Hinata slides in beside me, offering me a nervous smile.

As far as females go, Hinata is one of the only ones I can actually tolerate for an extended period of time. She, unlike most of the others, has no interest in me romantically and has, despite her occasional stutter, been able to converse with me for an extended length of time without appearing overtly stupid and swooning. She also has a talent for maths that presents even me with a challenge sometimes which is good for my learning.

The fact that she is a Hyuuga, a member of a family that has previously associated with mine so she knows all about my darker than ideal family history, has little bearing on my opinion of her. Though she might know far too much about me, she's not the type to go about spreading rumours.

"G-good morning Sasuke," she says pleasantly, opening her text book and hunching forward, her head bowed as normal. "I hope you had a good weekend."

"Hn," I mutter by the way of my usual non-committal response. I know she's probably wondering about my eye but it's just a point in her favour when she doesn't bring it up.

Kurenai enters a few moments later looking particularly dishevelled from the deluge outside and is scowling mercilessly at the girls at the front of the class still throwing me concerned glances over their shoulders.

"If you're done admiring the shiner on Uchiha," she barks out in a feral voice. "Then I'll begin the lesson for today. May I suggest you take out your notebooks because this lesson will be worth learning."

* * *

I know immediately that something is wrong when I leave the classroom to go to lunch. It's the kind of feeling I assume animals have when they're presented with a natural disaster and flee the area hours before that disaster hits. It's like precognition brought about because of factors too minute for you to consciously take stock of, a realisation of ruinous changes that almost fly below the radar.

At first, I wonder if it's because I'm still het up on what happened this morning and managed to forget, even for a few blissful hours during lecture, that this might sour my relationship with the blonde idiot even further but then I see the limousine parked up by the student building and almost have a hyperventilation attack in the middle of the causeway.

"Oh wow, someone important must be visiting today," someone says as they pass me, eyeing the limousine with a mixture of envy and curiosity.

"I've never been in a limo before; do you think that one has its own television?"

Its own television, X Box 360, satellite set up, a working phone…I know exactly what that limo has on board, exactly how state of the art all of the gear inside is.

I know because that's the limousine used to ferry around the members of the elite Uchiha family, _my_ family. I was driven to and from high school in that same limousine for years.

The seconds spent staring at this eye sore turn into minutes and I'm sure I'm having some sort of panic attack. The world keeps tipping out of focus and I can hear my breath coming out in short, ragged bursts. The hand gripping the banister on the causeway is hard as flint and hot. Sweat beads on my forehead.

Within a fleeting moment of coherence not completely over-powered by panic, I wonder if I still have enough time to escape without encountering the true owner of this limousine but my hopes are dashed when my eyes find his in the crowd.

The same eyes as mine though they're lined with dark bruises from his time spent overseas recently.

He's still wearing the coat mother bought him for Christmas all those years ago though where he's grown, it no longer sweeps the ground.

"Itachi…" I breathe out harshly, the name itself sounding like a bomb dropped through the air. He smiles at me coldly and beckons me over in much the same way he used to.

I scowl at him, suddenly able to reign in my fear in light of this familiar gesture, a _too _familiar gesture. He has no right to beckon me forward like he used to, expecting me to follow him blindly after everything he's put me through. Infuriatingly, even though I'm desperate to be purposefully defiant and hold my ground against his beckon, my legs seem to be taking me in his direction anyway. Am I really so well trained that I still follow my brother blindly? Even after what I'm convinced really happened…

As I get inadvertently closer, I find myself wishing that this was one of those low budget action movies and I could just draw a gun and shoot him in the head, as blood thirsty as that seems.

I suppose that might sound like overkill for your usual sibling rivalry but obviously, ours is not your average fraternal relationship.

When I finally draw close enough, Itachi leans forward and flicks me in the forehead, an action he has performed without fail upon our every encounter, like a reminder that I can do nothing but fall into old patterns where he's concerned.

He makes me sick.

"Itachi," I say, priding myself on the absolute zero coldness with which I form his name. It's taken years of cultivation but I'm finally able to hide the bitterness, the anger where he's concerned. Although it's untrue, I want him to feel like I have risen above the petty emotions I've always felt around my _beloved _big brother.

"Sasuke, I was hoping that we could go to lunch together."

I want to snarl at him but oddly, my face remains blank. The only indication I manage to give him that I heard this strange request is a slight widening of the eyes and a singular eyebrow raise.

In all the years since our parents died, we have never eaten together, not even for Christmas. The only way that this makes sense is if Itachi gets something out of it, but what? As the head of Uchiha Corp, Itachi is usually busy with external affairs elsewhere which means, thankfully, that I never see him. Could this be something to do with work?

"What do you get out of it?" I hiss at him, not bothering to conceal my suspicion.

Unfortunately, being something of a psychopath, Itachi has always been better at hiding his emotions than me. While my face may show a hint of irritation when forced to interact with others against my will, while I may snarl and get riled like any human being, Itachi honestly seems to feel nothing.

I can still remember the day of our parent's funeral, standing together in the rain with me crying silently in the front row and him with his eyes downcast, looking for all he was worth like he was bored.

I really hate him.

I really, _really HATE _him.

"Nothing, simply the pleasure of your company," Itachi confirms as though this is a normal occurrence, something that just serves to further vex me.

"I'm interested to hear about how your studies are going. And…" he says, tilting his head slightly to get a better look at my bruised side. "I'm interested to know how you got that impressive black eye."

"There's not really much for me to tell you," I grind out, hoping he'll get the hint and leave. Out of the corner of my eye, in the most peripheral part of my vision, I catch the slight shift as someone in the sea of students stops to watch us. The attention is a little too marked and I feel an involuntary shiver run through me. Instead of the action movie I'm craving, this is playing out like a horror movie. The psychotic killer and the shadow moving just outside perception…

"If you are truly working hard, then I'm sure you have a lot to tell me," Itachi says, his own little way of confirming his own invite to lunch. "And as your provider, I have a right to know about any fights you may feel inclined to have. Although you are currently uninvolved in Uchiha Corp, I cannot encourage fighting in case it damages our image and our future prospects, you understand."

I really want to tell him that he can't just follow me to lunch and more than that, I really want to tell him where he can shove it, I have a schedule, I have exams to study for, I have-

"Fine," I snap at him, stalking towards the cafeteria. I don't bother waiting for him as he falls into step behind me, acutely aware of his presence at all times. Against my better judgement, I lead him into the main building and experience a sudden moment of shock as I realise that this is actually happening.

I am actually about to have lunch with Itachi in a fairly civilised manner even though I hate him, even though _I know _that he was the one that ki-

My stomach lurches threateningly and my throat clogs as we approach the food. The special today is grilled mackerel, one of my favourites but the smell of it just makes me want to duck out to the nearest bathroom. I watch with disbelieving eyes as Itachi peruses the choices and goes about putting together a salad at the deli bar.

"Aren't you getting anything? You'll just get skinnier if you don't eat," Itachi says nonchalantly as he saunters past to the check out.

I shudder once and violently. The words sound concerned, the sort of thing a real big brother would say to his little brother but the truth of it is that there is no feeling there. The subtle inflections are missing from his tone and his eyes are uncaring as they rake over my wiry frame. His body language is wrong; too relaxed if that's even possible, like he's on drugs. He has this kind of intimidating air that can only be natural, like his whole existence is on another frequency to the rest of the world.

I know, I sound like some sort of conspiracy theorist.

I guess I am.

Growling under my breath, I grab a bottle of apple juice and follow him, sinking down into my seat across the table from him. He regards me languidly for a few moments before picking up his fork and toying with a lettuce leaf, intermittently stabbing it with the sharp prongs of the utensil.

I can't help feeling like that lettuce leaf.

"Why are you really here?" I ask after the deafening silence all but crushes me.

Itachi gives me a long look full of hidden, possibly hostile meaning before lowering his fork and ignoring his food altogether.

As far as I can, I avoid his eyes. Somehow, they've always had the power to drag me in to his illusions. Ever since I was little, he's made me believe every lie he's ever told me, just because he's able to look at me a certain way.

It's infuriating…but mostly just terrifying.

"I've come here to remind you why you are here, what's important," he says simply and I can't help the expression of disgust that warps my usually nonchalant features. He's referring to my single minded quest to take revenge on him for what I _know _he's done. Part of that was my particular choice of university course, the reason I ended up coming to KU.

Since I am part of the Uchiha family and am thus the second heir to the Uchiha Corp Company, I was always supposed to take business and economics to university level with a side in perhaps finance and math. Instead, I've come on a science major and the idea is that I'll eventually go into forensic science or maybe even detective work if I manage to navigate my way into a legal degree at some stage.

Then I can prove what happened that night.

I can prove that Itachi-

"Sasuke?"

Oh God, not now, not here, not with him.

Not after this morning.

I try to curb my reaction to his voice but the sheer intensity of the emotions warring within me makes it difficult to do anything at all of my own will. On the one hand, there is the deep-rooted all-encompassing hatred for the man I am currently eating lunch with, on the other hand is the, what is becoming increasingly, normal reaction to Naruto aka heart palpitations and a 'love drug' induced stupor. The result of this is that I have a weird mix of indomitable loathing and the faint hint of what can only be called a smile tugging at my face.

It doesn't help that seeing him with the faint traces of the rain still lingering over him, setting the particular hue of his skin aglow, clinging to his hair and running in tantalising streams down his face causes something painful to happen in my lower regions regardless of my current company.

Again, I offer thanks for the fact that I chose to wear baggy pants.

Of course, Itachi notices my odd reaction to him almost straight away.

_No…_

"Ah, you are a friend of Sasuke's?"

_How DARE you interact with him. Stay away from him, he's mine._

_Run Naruto…_

"Uh…well…friend is a bit of a strong word I suppose," Naruto says, scratching the back of his head apologetically. Though it's nothing but the truth, we're hardly friends after a single civilised conversation in a sea of oppressive clashes, it still hurts that he dismisses the thought so readily.

Even in this entirely unlikely scenario, I can't look at him for long after this morning.

After he saw me-

"Actually, it was me that gave him the black eye," Naruto's admission has me double taking and the minute my eyes lock with his…I don't know, the black ball of hatred usually hardening in my stomach like a painful kidney stone upon meeting Itachi just starts to loosen. The deep lagoon reflected in his eyes is like a paradisiacal escape and warmth seems to grow up inside me from nowhere.

Will I ever stop reacting to him like this?

Will I ever be able to treat him like I treat everyone else?

It was exactly the same yesterday when he turned up at our door with his belongings, ready to move in. I was certain I was going to have a cardiac arrest, especially when I caught him peering into the gloom of my room like I did…and then this morning…

"What could my little brother have done to merit such treatment?" Itachi asks with a faint hint of amusement.

The tone makes the warm feeling growing up inside me turn stone cold.

Itachi has taken something of a special interest in Naruto. I can hear it in his voice.

_38% tone of voice._

God, this is all I can do for him.

"He was being a moron," I say, trying to lace my voice with just a hint of something sharp. There is no way I can hide the fact that I'm interested in Naruto now that Itachi's read me so easily but if I can make it seem like that interest is genuine dislike, perhaps I can spare Naruto from Itachi's special attentions.

Naruto winces and the obvious mental blow has as much impact on him as it does me. He takes it like he might take a physical hit and I feel like…

…I feel like the bastard he's always accusing me of being.

"You're still angry about this morning aren't you?" he asks sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in a way that makes the light bouncing off of his blonde hair absolutely mesmerising.

"Hn," I say by the way of neither confirming nor denying this statement, not wanting to get into this little mortification with my brother around. "We should discuss it later."

Surprisingly, Naruto seems to get the hint. It's not like him to take in subtleties. I must be really damn obvious.

"Yeah okay," he affirms, smiling sincerely at Itachi. "We can talk about it when we get home if you want. You know, you should really learn to lock a door."

I take it back, this idiot has no tact.

Why the hell do I feel like I do about him?

Itachi's eyebrows have shot up in an ever entertained expression and he's resting his head on his hands like he's enjoying my obvious torment at the hands of the oblivious blonde retard before him…which I suppose he is.

I think I might just strangle Naruto before this day is through after all.

I hope he likes it rough…

Argh!

Naruto looks a little scared as he regards me which means I must be giving him something of an animalistic look but in light of present company, I just don't care what look I give him so long as it's hostile enough but then he glances down at the phone he just pulled out of his pocket and pales slightly.

"Shit, I have to go. It was nice meeting you…"

"Itachi," Itachi drawls out, sounding out his own name like he knows Naruto probably won't be able to remember it.

"Itachi. My name's Naruto," he says and I flinch involuntarily. His name, his name is sacred, something only I should ever be allowed to say. His name sends flutters tumbling through my stomach; his name means sunshine yellow, deep, tumultuous blue, golden hued skin, everything I can't have.

His name is _not _for Itachi.

He waves his farewell and darts off, a thoroughly unwelcome distraction from the lunch I had no stomach to eat in the first place. As soon as he disappears around the corner, Itachi's eyes are back on me and they are _knowing. _I've not fooled him at all with my display of acerbic behaviour.

Which means I've become even more of a bastard in Naruto's eyes for _no good reason._

"Now he's an interesting one," Itachi says, his voice rich, dripping with the black promises of torture yet to come.

"Leave him alone Itachi," I say before I can stop myself, cementing the impression that Naruto is important to me, cementing him as a target in my brother's eyes for anything he might want me to do in the future.

Itachi's eyes flash briefly and my breath hitches in light of his irritation.

"You honestly think so little of me as to presume I would use Naruto's existence against you? I would have thought you would have gotten over your little conspiracy theory after a few years of obsession Sasuke."

I can't help the growl that rips through my throat as he says Naruto's name and I can't help the growth of the anger inside as he mentions that night. What was merely a sting suddenly becomes a gaping flesh wound as far as mental anguish goes.

"You can't brain wash me into denying the truth," I spit at him. "It's only a matter of time."

I'm getting overly heated about this; I can feel the anger spreading through me, making want to start something even here in the university cafeteria where everyone can see. I want to simply throw a punch at him and get the satisfaction of seeing his perfect nose break. I want to wipe that indifferent expression from his face and inspire pain in its wake.

I expect Itachi to rise to my little promise but in this sort of situation, he's in his element. Instead, he simply closes the lid on his salad box and stands, smoothing out the crumples in his perfect, dark suit.

"I can see that my continued presence will only upset you further. I will withdraw for now but know only that I am aware of your current living arrangements and I will be seeing both you and Naruto again."

I'm ready to protest, to rip into my big brother until he promises to stay away from me, preferably for good. With the stress of this last weekend, the up coming exams, the fact that I must look like a dick to the only person I have ever expressed interest in, I am truly ready to blow my top and pour years of suffering into a single fight that is designed to leave Itachi reeling but the mention of_ his_ name, the fact that Itachi has promised to see Naruto again along with me…

It makes all that empowering anger crash away only to leave room for the regular, blooming dread, the thrum of barely suppressed fear.

Instead of standing up and aiming a strike as I might have, I flop back in my seat numbly, staring at the label on the apple juice like it might give me the answers to life's greatest mysteries.

Itachi says nothing more but simply turns smartly and disappears from sight, his feet quiet on the floor as always, his movements impossibly graceful and precise.

I'm left feeling mentally drained with nothing but a gnawing worry for the wellbeing of the guy that probably hates me again.

* * *

I have only ever been drunk twice in my life. The first time was purely an experiment and I discovered pretty quickly that I did _not _enjoy the feeling of losing control like my friends assured me I would. The soft fuzz in my head, the comfortable coating that seemed to have fallen over all the shit in my life wasn't worth it for losing the power to think coherently and, in a display of uncharacteristic embarrassment, I ended up falling flat on my face whilst walking home with my then friend Kabuto, something I did not live down for about 3 months afterwards.

The second time was at a party we had just before leaving for university and someone happened to mention something about Itachi that was far too intimate to be a passing comment. I don't think I'll ever forget the rage I felt at being told about my own family in such a manner and, due to the delicate nature of the comment; I was unable to call out the commenter. I turned to drink as an escape from that particular situation and completely destroyed our antique dining table upon my return to the house in a fit of drunken rage.

I don't make a conscious decision to start drinking as soon as I get in, it seems that since Itachi's visit, I have been lost to a plethora of automatic behaviours, something most unlike me, and I have no intention of breaking the flow as I reach for the Captain Morgan's, a house warming present from Tobi, unscrewing the cap and taking a long swig.

The hard alcohol burns my throat and makes me cough a little but after a couple of mouthfuls, the harsh burn loses its edge and I'm able to sink down against the washing machine in the kitchen whilst my mind slowly numbs. The only thing that registers properly after that is the cold feel of the floor against my butt and the briefly remembered visual of Naruto with tiny streams of water creating tracks down his angular face as he spoke to Itachi in the cafeteria today.

Slowly my thoughts devolve and I lose all sense of time, unconcerned when I finally hear the latch in the front door go and I can hear the shuffled movements of someone sitting down on the stairs to take off their shoes. My first thought is that it's probably Suigetsu and I have the weirdest urge to go out and greet him with a smile, shoving myself up from the floor and grinning inanely as the world rockets sideways.

"I'm good and drunk," I say to no-one, staggering through the living room and into the hallway.

When I find myself looking at Naruto's hunched over form as he shakes the residual rain drops out of his hair, I can't help the way my grin broadens. It's so big it makes my face hurt and I am both mortified at my own openness and jubilant that I am free of the pesky need to restrain my emotions so much.

"Welcome back _idiot,_" I say with joking emphasis on the last word.

Naruto stiffens as he makes to remove his shoe and glances up through cautious eyes into my inanely grinning face.

Look at me, I'm a happy-go-lucky fool!

"S…Sasuke?" he asks, his face contorting in shock and his eyes widening to give me a fill virulent view of that breath-taking blue. His lips part slightly as he observes me and I only vaguely remember to hold back on the urge to press my lips to his and inject my tongue to lick at the hot cavern of his mouth.

Why would he not want that again?

I could make him feel so good…

"Nooo, you're supposed to say _bastard! _Then get mad at me," I tell him pointedly, leaning up against the door frame as I watch his free hand dropping down towards his shoe again so he can tug it off. His eyes never leave my face and the look he is giving me is so intense that I have to fight the urge to giggle.

Oh no, wait, lost that fight before it began.

"Heh heh heh."

I stare without remorse as his blonde eyebrows tug down, appreciating the opportunity to study him without inhibitions, without knowing that I have to be careful to mask my reaction to him. An opportunity like this will never arise again and I want to make the most of it. I note with a slight tug of disapproval as his lips close and angle downward in a sure display of disapproval.

"Sasuke, are you drunk?" he asks me, his voice very serious.

I can't work out why, it's not like I'm under-age or anything. I have a right to get drunk if I want to.

"Does it matter if I am?" I purr, only slightly perturbed by the husky set to my voice.

Naruto either doesn't notice or brushes it off as irrelevant, heaving himself up off of the stairway and standing in front of me. Through the delicious numbness of the drink, I realise that he's challenging me and I desperately want to rise to it. Clashing with this guy makes me feel alive and suddenly, all I want is that rush.

I straighten, angling myself off of the door frame but the word jerks just a little too much and I'm forced to back down, falling back into the living room and wondering vaguely if Naruto is going to follow or if he'll leave me to my drunken idiocy.

I can't exactly hide the gratitude when he appears a moment later, sinking onto the couch with me.

"Where are Suigetsu and Tobi?" Naruto asks, looking around vaguely.

I feel a surge of jealousy bombard my system and resist the urge to pout like a petulant child. He shouldn't care about them damnit, he should only care about me.

"Dunno, out getting laid hopefully," I say dismissively, trying to swing the conversation back to something that only involves the two of us but what happens following this statement…

…it's like a punch to the heart, a shot of liquid sunshine shooting through my veins. The whole world lights up, all colour previously sucked out of my world with Naruto's disappearance after the party over the weekend suddenly explodes into full vibrancy in my eyes.

Because he's chuckling.

He's looking at me with those bright blue eyes and the colour is slightly different than I'm used to, _brighter _somehow and the features of his face are angled upwards with the lightness of his humour. The smile on his face is easy, completely natural and looks like it _belongs _on that tanned face. The whisker marks on his cheeks aren't just for show, they actually seem to accentuate the joviality if that's even possible and somehow…

…Somehow he seems warmer.

_I made him laugh._

Why the hell do I feel like I just got top marks in my exam, that I just managed to prove my theory about Itachi correct or that I just managed to end fucking world hunger or something?

Just how damn powerful is this infatuation?

"Dude, that was _not _the response I was expecting," Naruto says, his eyes friendly as he stops laughing, honestly like high summer.

"You should get drunk more often," he says, gesturing at me and it takes me a moment to realise that I'm smiling without abandon at him in a display of emotion that I haven't felt since…

…well since my parents died if I'm honest. The expression feels foreign on my face, raw, uncomfortable and it scares me, even through the cushion of drink.

"I don't get drunk," I say soberly, making a point of getting up from the couch, wobbling into the kitchen and returning with the Captain Morgan's before taking a big swig to show Naruto that I'm joking again. If I get another laugh out of him, debasing myself, ruining my reputation in this way is _totally _worth it.

The effects of the 'love drug' really are addictive after all.

Naruto lets out one booming laugh and leans forward, slightly closer than I'm used to, even with Suigetsu.

"I kinda figured, the stick's shoved too far up your ass for you to be a drinker. Can't imagine you enjoying that kind of wild feeling."

He's not exactly wrong and I feel no need to deny the truth. For the first time ever, I'm starting to enjoy the effects of alcohol but thinking about why I started drinking has my mood darkening and I take another swig emptily as my expression contorts into the familiar territory of a snarl.

"Is…this about this morning?" he asks tentatively, looking readily apologetic as I turn a cutting look on him. He can't honestly think that I would be that mortified. I'm not some bloody virginal school girl; it's not the end of the world. I'm a lot harder to ruffle than that.

We can all just forget about this morning's bemoaning thank you very much and if Suigetsu has the nerve to let Naruto in on how mortified I was, I will simply castrate him for his trouble.

"No, I have nothing to hide," I say proudly, repeating Suigetsu's earlier statements and puffing up in an over-exaggerated display of bravado.

Naruto's amused look is back in place instantly and a flutter of butterflies dance through my belly when I see it.

"True enough," he admits.

Hn.

Wait…

Did he just agree with me?

"So if this isn't about what happened this morning, does it have something to do with Ita-

I cut him off before he has time to say that name…

…with my lips.

I only wanted to silence him, to stop that voice from rolling around the guttural pronunciation of that name before the complex web of anger, hatred and terror started to take over my drunken mind and somehow, the need to silence him got mixed up with the desire to press my lips against his and now…

Now…

His skin is hot and his lips are firmer than I imagined they would be, a little wider than the set of my own. His breath mists out over my face blowing heated sensation over my skin before he manages to move and close his mouth against the ending of the name he never got to finish forming. His top lip brushes down over mine sending an electric shot straight to my stomach. So close, the scent of him seems to wrap around me, earthy, natural with the slightest tang of something else and I have to fight the urge to inhale deeply to preserve something of this to appreciate later. I've never kissed anyone before because no-one has ever interested me enough in that way but now I'm here kissing this tanned work of art, I really don't know how I ever held back on such a thing if all kissing is like this.

I realise that I've done something totally out of bounds, totally out of character but now that I'm here, I just don't want to pull away. In a moment, this whole thing is going to come crashing down around me so for now; I just want to appreciate this totally selfish moment of true indulgence.

Without letting myself think for too long, I slip out the tip of my tongue to graze his bottom lip and the taste of him nearly sends me over the edge.

That's when he chooses to grab on to my shoulders and shove me roughly back, breaking the contact between us rather violently. The fleeting moment of euphoria, the perfect contact of lips on lips is broken and he's looking at me with darkened blue eyes. The summer day reflected only moments before has suddenly become subjected to a storm and something inside me shrivels at the sight.

His hands are still fixed firmly on my shoulders as he voices his opinion on what just transpired and of all the things I've done to him, the insults, the fighting, flashing him this morning though it was through no fault of my own, I realise in a moment of startlingly cruel clarity that this may be the worst thing of them all.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Well shit.

* * *

_Another perfect place to end a chapter (dodges thrown projectiles). As always, comments are always gratefully received etc._


	6. Naruto 3

_AN: Warning – some of the material of this chapter overlaps with some of the material of last chapter. This is essential to the plot and hopefully gives some insight into how the other half thinks if you get what I mean heh. I hope not to have to do this too often but every now and again, I think it's fun to get a difference perspective on something important. _

_Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed last chapter and apologies for any grammar mistakes and whatnot you may find this chapter. I did do a check but I've not been well and my coherence isn't at its best. Any problems, just PM me!_

* * *

**6: Naruto**

It takes me about 5 seconds after accidentally walking in on Sasuke in the shower to decide to leave the house without breakfast. At this point, I've been in the house for less than a day and to be honest, I'm not really willing to try and find a new place just yet because Sasuke might decide to take anger to the next level of psychotic. If he flipped out so hard about invading the privacy of his _bedroom _I can only begin to guess at what's in store for me when he finally exits the shower. At least if I'm currently out of the house, he'll have a chance to blow his top without sentencing me to exile as Sakura did straight off the bat.

Without further pause for consideration, I head downstairs and grab my satchel, ramming my well worn shoes onto my feet and grabbing my name tag for work later before heading to the front door. Upstairs, I can hear the click of Suigetsu's bedroom door and unconsciously pick up my pace, pulling the front door closed behind me as quietly as possible.

I guess if there's a chalk outline on the front steps when I get back later, I can assume it's either Suigetsu or Tobi that's taken the fall for me…

Do I feel guilty?

Yes.

Am I going to give up on escape and accept my fate to spare the innocent lives of my housemates?

No.

Hoisting my bag up more securely on my shoulder, I start trekking towards the university, whistling cheerfully to myself in an action that completely juxtaposes the warring of weirdness wriggling through my system because no matter how hard I try, I can't get the imprint of his body out of my mind and it's making me feel hot and uncomfortable in ways I didn't particularly expect it to.

It's not like I'm opposed to the idea of getting hot round the collar for a guy or anything. As far as I'm concerned, if it's hot, I don't particularly care what gender it is, but him?

The perfect curve of his back leading tantalisingly down into the taut muscle of his ass, the way his hair clung to the perfect arch of his neck, the darkness contrasting with the pale hue of his skin, the anger when he turned around to face me reflected in those shadowed eyes making his beauty deadly like some kind of cliché rose with thorns metaphor…if I was any kind of artist, I'd really _really _want to draw that overly pretty prick.

I guess his looks _are _kind of intimidating. He's got this air of unattainable, natural beauty, something to look at but _never _touch…or something.

Maybe his sex appeal lies in how taboo it all is.

Bah, whatever, I shouldn't be thinking about the sex appeal of a guy that obviously hates me…and is a bastard to boot. I'm still trying to figure out what that little attempt at civility was last night when he took it upon himself to re-arrange my book case, a legitimate call for a truce? Or more likely, a trap designed to lure me into a false sense of security so he can undermine me when it becomes most convenient as a form of revenge.

He totally seems like the 'revenge or die' sort.

I'm still whistling as I finally head through the gates into Campus despite the rain that has seeped through my clothes enough to make my attire cold and uncomfortable. By the time I saunter into the classroom much earlier than everyone else, my lips are aching and cracked with the need for fluid so I dump my bag unceremoniously onto my usual table and head back out into the corridor for a quick drink before class officially starts.

Interestingly, I run into Kiba Inuzuka who is planted firmly in front of the notice board outside my classroom biting one of his nails and looking thoroughly indecisive about something.

I know Kiba through Sakura. When she first moved into the house, she threw a house warming party and the two of us met there. Though we've only ever exchanged a few words, you don't tend to forget a guy with fang tattoos on the face.

You'd think after experiencing years of people taking more or less an instant disliking to me that I'd steer clear of unwanted interaction but despite the possibility of rejection, I always figured that it was better to try and engage someone because they might just surprise you. That's how it was for me and Iruka in the beginning after all…

Plus, I really want to know what's eating the guy.

I know, curiosity killed the cat and everything but I'm not really the type to be over-cautious.

"Hey dude, what're you looking at?" I ask casually, peering over his shoulder whilst filling a plastic cup with clear liquid and downing half of it in one.

Kiba spares me a cursory glance before turning back to the notice board. He doesn't seem particularly disgusted or annoyed by my question so I take that as a small victory.

Optimism for the win.

"I'm a little strapped for cash and there's a notice on here for some weird biology experiment or something…" he tells me blankly, gesturing with a free hand at the wall. Blinking, I follow the line of his hand until I'm looking at a little pink notice. After a quick skim read, I get that the general gist of the experiment is to see how small amounts of caffeine affect different people. They're calling for test subjects to observe the effects and I shudder at the thought, remembering my final exams from high school which resulted in the ingestion of too much coffee and a caffeine crash so profound I was out of it for nearly 2 full days afterwards.

I shake my head.

"It looks kind of dodgy to me," I tell him truthfully, earning me a little huff.

"They said the dosage would be regulated…I probably drink more caffeine in the energy drinks I get through when an essay's due than the amount they're probably gonna give out to be honest and it's worth £100 up front…"

£100 up front…

Kiba runs a hand through his unruly hair and looks at me thoughtfully.

"They say you can't apply without a partner to keep you company when the experiment's over…"

£100 up front…

It would keep me in groceries for a week or more, I wouldn't have to pester Iruka, I could buy something to properly apologise for causing Sakura unnecessary misery, hell I could buy something apologetic to give to Sasuke to stop him from chucking me out following the shower thing this morning.

Firm, rounded, _perfectly _tight ass-

Ugh, stop that!

"You gonna go for it?" I ask him, already spending the money in my mind. If I didn't spend it on Sakura or on that asshole for a better quality of social life, think of all the ramen I could buy.

So much miso pork…

"I'm thinking about it, but no-one wants to come as my partner so-

"I'll do it with you," I say without much thought, still picturing a steaming bowl of miso pork ramen in frighteningly high definition, even going so far as to almost see the swirls of steam misting over my eyes to obscure Kiba's elated response. It takes a moment for the ramen infused haze over my eyes to clear enough for me to really take in his hopeful expression. His eyes are alight, his mouth is open in a cautious half smile and I can't help but feel a little _something _squirm into place in my own system akin to yearning.

Caffeine doesn't agree with me, I know this is a bad idea, that I should probably back out because it was one of those spur of the moment comments that was supposed to be inconsequential but he…he looks like he might actually be grateful for my existence.

First Suigetsu and now this guy…maybe I actually have a chance to make some friends here.

"For real Uzumaki?" Kiba asks tentatively, his voice laced with a hint of suspicion, like he's expecting me to drop a bomb on him or something.

I can't let him down…not when he's actually looking at me like he might really see me.

"Yeah, I could do with some cash," I say casually, almost blown away when he beams at me and laughs, throwing an arm around my shoulder like I'm not repulsive, like I actually might _belong _there or something.

The touch obviously doesn't mean much to him but to me, it means everything. No-one has ever been so familiar with me before.

"Dude, you know what? When I first met you at Sakura's house warming thing, I took you for a total twit you know? The kind of guy that angles for a fight just because and hearing about what you did to Uchiha over the weekend just made that worse but you're alright!"

I'm not sure whether to be insulted, outraged or grateful for the really badly worded compliment and decide to settle for the latter as Kiba gives me his number and waves as he leaves to get to his next class.

Behind me, students are starting to file in to my lecture and suddenly, instead of being super early, I'm almost late but I can't help it. The little wave and the cheery grin have me rooted to the spot and the paper with his number in my left hand scrunches tightly.

My answering grin is slow, he's long gone, but I smile anyway and wave at the empty corridor before almost skipping into the lecture hall.

* * *

Having left the house so early to escape the wrath of the dark lord aka Sasuke Uchiha, I'm absolutely starving by the time lecture lets out and decide to head down to the canteen for one of those sandwiches that they only make in the deli section there. It's an indulgence I shouldn't really allow myself considering I'm so tight for money but if I'm gonna be getting a £100 pay off to drink a bit of coffee in just a few days, I think I can make an exception this once.

As usual, the canteen is pretty full at this time of day and I can see a few people from my courses scattered around. Sai is sitting in the café with a sketch pad and smiles at me plastically as I move past the window. In a fit of random childishness brought on mostly because the grin Kiba gave me was so sincere earlier, I stick my tongue out at him and pull my bottom eyelid down to expose the white underside.

Sai blinks at me and frowns in confusion.

The guy never takes things like normal people would, I'll give him that much.

As I turn the corner and head down the steps onto the main floor, my thoughts turning to the most important and sombre topic of which filling to have in my sandwich, I spot Sasuke sitting at a table for two with a guy that for all the world looks like an older carbon copy of him just with longer hair and an impressively long coat.

A relative, most probably his brother unless his dad has some kind of anti-aging regimen that would make most middle aged ladies jealous.

I stare loosely at them for a moment and end up walking into the back of someone's chair for my trouble.

"Ack!"

I must have been going quite fast because the force of my knock pushes the guy forward in the chair until his coat is caught under the table and he turns back to glare at me, snarling slightly. Only one of his eyes is visible through a curtain of blonde hair but it's full of malice and I can't help shivering.

"Hey watch it!" he spits out, gesturing to the table where, of course, he's working on something delicate, a tiny clay sculpture in the shape of a spider.

"Sorry, sorry," I say quickly, backing up a step and holding my hands up in a gesture of surrender. "It was an accident."

His eye narrows at me for a moment but then weirdly, there's a little spark in the blue depths and his whole demeanour changes, like he came to some sort of epiphany about being nice to strangers, or he's bi-polar or something.

Probably the latter…either that or I'm under a seriously heavy enchantment today. Between this guy and Kiba, these are some of the most amiable reactions to my presence I've ever had. At this rate, maybe I should have stayed to confront Sasuke after the shower debacle; he might've just completely blown my mind and given me a bunch of flowers or something.

"Oh…hey, don't worry about it," he says, smiling grudgingly at me. "Just be careful next time okay?"

"Uh…okay…" I manage as he ushers me away, his smile twitching into an awkward grimace every now and then, like he still wants to kill me for almost ruining his sculpture but knows that he shouldn't for some reason.

Seriously, there's got to be something going on here that I don't know about.

I decide to wipe the thought away when I feel like I'm getting too paranoid, no use worrying about nothing, and head towards Sasuke. If he's gonna get on my case for this morning, its better that we do this somewhere public so he doesn't feel the need to mutilate me too much; although I am curious to see if my run of amazing social interaction luck will continue.

"Sasuke?"

The question seems to take him off guard and a string of insanely complex emotions passes over his features like lightning, too fast to really identify adequately. It's the most I've ever seen him animate outside of blatant anger and it's really rather off putting. I really must have shaken him this morning – maybe the guy has full clinical OCD.

I can see the thoughts flashing beneath the dark depths of his eyes, running through his mind at 100mph or more and the set of shoulders is absolutely rigid. He must be trying to hold back on punching my lights out. Frowning slightly, I turn to his companion who is looking at me with the kind of vague politeness I always associate with authority figures.

Like Sasuke, he oozes this kind of superior intimidation though he has longer lashes than his younger brother and deep lines indenting his face. Absently, I touch at the scars on my cheeks.

"Ah, you are a friend of Sasuke's?"

I wince as Sasuke's lips thin and his eyes narrow ever so slightly making the dark bruise around his eye that much more prominent. His breath seems to have caught in his throat and if possible, his skin is even paler than usual. If I didn't know him better, though I suppose after only being in his company for a few days, I probably still don't know him at all, I would say that he was on the verge of having some sort of episode.

I open my mouth to say something friendly but change tack at the last moment, instinctually aware somehow that telling the truth is the only way to proceed smoothly with this encounter. Clearly Sasuke doesn't want me meeting his brother – I guess I don't really blame him considering just _how much _of the asshole I have actually seen in the few days I've known him.

Heh.

"Uh…well…friend is a bit of a strong word I suppose," I say, rubbing the back of my head in a way that I hope is disarming. I chance a glance at Sasuke out of the corner of my eye and am somewhat shocked to see something that could easily be misinterpreted as disappointment appear on his features for a split second.

Somehow, as a reaction to all this, my brain decides to replay the clipped visuals of what I managed to get an eyeful of in the bathroom this morning.

It's pretty freaky and not exactly encouraging.

The line of his back perfectly indented running with the slipstream of water heading south as he turned-

"Actually, it was me that gave him the black eye," I confess suddenly, making myself meet Sasuke's eyes in defiance. I expect to be bombarded with a loathing so profound, after this morning's little incident, that it'll chase those less than savoury thoughts to the back of my mind at least but, though the gravity in his gaze is as intense as I was expecting, he looks almost…grateful that I owned up to punching him.

What, did he think I would deny it in the face of his older scary brother?

Like I'd deny it for _anybody._

"What did my little brother do to merit such treatment?" The older Uchiha asks with the underlying air of someone who finds the whole thing coldly amusing.

I watch with vague concern as Sasuke's eyes darken with some inner pain, probably remembering all the less friendly things we've said and done over the last couple of days and my…uh…violence during our first…ah…encounter. Sure enough, his whole countenance seems to frost over and he leans back in his chair a little, fixing me now with a look bordering on disdain. It's almost the same as the look he gave me at the party after I opened my big mouth about Sakura and her crush on the bastard and the whole thing has me pulling a face.

"He was being a moron," Sasuke says meanly, his voice carrying the agonising edge that tells me he still views me as absolutely nothing of worth or less than nothing.

I study his face hoping to spot a hint of warmth or life but all I can see is that he's pissed as hell.

"You're still angry about this morning aren't you?" I mutter obviously, wanting him to understand that I really am sorry and that it doesn't mean anything…well except that I'm a horny pervert which is not something anybody needs to know. It's not like I'm gonna think less of him for seeing how pale his ass is.

"Hn," he sounds out by the way of a response without responding.

I fight the urge to press my thumb and index finger into the bridge of my nose to stop a stress-induced headache from coming on. I came over here originally to apologise and make sure that he isn't going mental over the whole affair but with his brother who is so much like him sitting 3 feet away, I feel like I'm trapped between a rock and a hard place.

Seeing that continuing this conversation is just going to make everything worse at the moment, I decide to sum up and leave the same way I do with the essays on topics I'm not quite sure about.

"Yeah okay, we can talk about it when we get home if you want. You know, you should really learn to lock a door."

Well he should, it's not entirely my fault.

Mr Anal-stick-up-his-ass-I'm-gonna-kill-you-if-you-breathe-in-my-space needs to recognise his own flaws.

Yep.

I hope Suigetsu and Tobi are alright…

The look Sasuke shoots me is bordering on manic, like he's contemplating the best forms of torture to implement when we get home later. I should probably check my bed before I get in it tonight. In complete contrast, his brother looks like Christmas has come early. Though I haven't exactly said what happened, I gather by the expression of pure glee showing through that he's inferred and plans to use this as some kind of blackmail material.

Just great.

Like Sasuke needed another reason to hate me.

I realise that there's no way to salvage this conversational disaster and luckily, as I glance at the phone I pull out of my trouser pocket, I realise that I have a legitimate excuse for ducking out before I incite the younger Uchiha to mass murder. If I'm gonna actually get my sandwich before I have to go to work, I have to have been in the queue to pay 5 minutes ago.

"Shit, I have to go. It was nice meeting you…"

"Itachi," the older brother offers lazily, his voice lingering on each syllable.

"Itachi," I repeat, like it's a foreign word, making a mental note to remember it if he decides to turn up at the house sometime…providing Sasuke doesn't go ahead and chuck me out this very evening. "My name's Naruto."

I don't have time to drag out the goodbyes and make a break for it after leaving my name, making a point to wave to Sasuke like Kiba did to me earlier.

Hey, if it made me feel that good then why not assume it could help to placate the beast?

At the very least, it might help take that 'someone just died and I'm in shock about it' look off of Sasuke's face. Now that I've seen a bit of emotion there, I'm not so sure if I didn't prefer the mask of stoic indifference.

* * *

I'm still dead tired after everything that went down this weekend so of course the _Shushuya _is absolutely filled with people as I slip in to relieve Neji of his shift. As soon as he sees me, he turns and pulls off his apron, hanging it on the hook by the kitchen and scooting around the back of the bar to take his preferred seat so he can eat lunch as a customer. I smile up at him though it's strained. After leaving the canteen, I couldn't help going through the conversation that I had with Sasuke and his brother a few times in my mind, wincing when I realised how over-familiar and irritating I must have been. I should have backtracked and left as soon as I knew that Sasuke didn't want me to meet his brother and yet I stayed to further promote the idea that I am a clueless moron.

"Something eating you Uzumaki?" Sora asks with a sneer as he picks up a few orders of Caeser salad.

I wince involuntarily at the sound of his voice. Sora, like most other people, is someone that took an instant disliking to me. Over the few weeks that I've been here, we've had a few heated arguments about various things, none of them as serious or as thrilling as the ones I've had with Sasuke but none-the-less, arguments are arguments.

Today, I really can't be done with it. I'm probably gonna get an earful from the aforementioned asshole later, I don't need to have them all start to blur into one continuous day-long argument thank you very much, I'd like a reprieve before heads roll.

Neji probably doesn't like me any better than Sora but he keeps his opinions to himself and that I'm grateful for.

"Take these to table 13 will you?" Sora asks suddenly, thrusting the salads into my hand and eyeing up a woman on one of the smaller tables who's getting a little rowdy. She's a regular that comes here to drink as soon as the place opens most every day and with her around, the complaint I was about to make about Sora's gruff treatment dies in my throat. She causes enough stress for the members of staff on shift and it looks like Sora's willing to take this into his own hands today so he doesn't need me mouthing off. Plus, like I said, I don't want to end up fighting him today.

I move off without a word to table 13, aware of Neji's eyes following me as I navigate the vast sea of tables packed with babbling students and people that have gotten out of work early or are here for a lunch meeting. It's something I've noticed about him as he sits and eats his lunch, he likes to keep his eyes on me like he expects me to try and steal the silverware or something. Sometimes I feel like he watches me like a television.

"Naruto?"

With my attention mostly on Neji, the sound of my name in front of me makes me jump about a foot in the air and I almost end up dropping the salads in a spectacular display of clumsiness. It seems a bit too 'karmic justice' considering how I approached Sasuke earlier to find someone that knows me now and I blink stupidly at Sakura and Ino sitting at the little table I've just moved to, placing the salads before them on auto-pilot.

"Uh…" I say by the way of asking them if they want more drinks.

"_This _is where you work?" Ino asks in a disbelieving voice. For some reason, her tone makes me scowl. It's not like I'm a complete screw up that can't even work a bar job Goddamnit. Where did she think I'd be working? Some kind of underground strip club?

"Looks like it," I say bitterly, feeling more exhausted by the second. Maybe I should have cut my losses and called in sick today…but then I guess I'd have to take out a mortgage to buy ramen for the weekend.

"Hey so did you settle in alright at your new place?" Sakura asks, her green eyes averted to the grain of the table in a clear display of remorse for kicking me out. The power of her guilt elicits a wide, assuring smile from me with an extra side of sunshine to lift the inevitable gloom cloud. I'm about to open my mouth and tell her that everything's fine, that my housemates are totally great which is more or less true if you discount Sasuke.

Sasuke…

_Sasuke!_

Oh man, she can't know I've bunked in with her crush after knocking his block off at the party! She'll think it's some kind of sabotage conspiracy! Which I guess it was…but that's all Suigetsu's doing…in fact; he should totally be the one to take the wrath of Sakura! But then I suppose I did leave him to take Sasuke's rage this morning…

I _really _need to stop pissing people off.

"Uuuuuh…" I manage, doing a marvellous impression of a machine that's just short circuited and failed to reboot.

_What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?_

"Naruto?" the sound of Sakura's concerned voice snaps me out of my inner monologue and I re-fortify the pacifying grin, possibly to the point of mania but I can't help it. My mind is still on a dysfunctional loop of panic and the only thought I can actively process is: _Mayday! Get the hell out of there!_

"Yes. Sorry, everything's fine. Would either of you like another drink?"

When in doubt, fall back on customer training.

"I'll take a Cappucino," Ino says, eyeing me warily. "You know, if you aren't gonna freak out and drop salt in it instead of sugar or something."

In a gesture that is just as much self comfort as an apologetic display, I put my hand up to rub the back of my head, my hand falling through hair that is slightly shaggier than I prefer.

"Sorry, it's been a long day," I say earnestly, glancing at Sakura to see if she'd like anything else.

When she shakes her head, I make the excuse of having to work to escape the conversation and, as I turn around to manoeuvre back to the bar, Sakura offers me a tentative smile – the kind of thing that tells me she might want to properly re-build the bridges I burnt at the last party.

It's just about then that I'm hit properly with the anxiety stick. Obviously I'm gonna have to tell her about Sasuke eventually or she's going to find out for herself and all hell will break loose.

God only knows how I'm going to tell her I've gone so far as to see him naked in the shower.

* * *

By the time I get home, I've formed a mantra in my mind that spurs me to keep putting one foot in front of the other rather than allowing myself to fall face first into the dirt and it goes like this:

_Food. Shower. Bed. Food. Shower. Bed._

I am absolutely determined that nothing will keep me from fulfilling the promise of my mantra. Not even Sasuke's particular brand of insult and anger will keep me from achieving this most sacred of goals so if he's really set on having an all out brawl then he'll just have to hold it in until tomorrow when I'm better equipped to deal with his bitching.

Shoving the key into the front door lock, I turn it, hearing the satisfying click of the tumbler activating and trudge into the hallway, dropping down on the staircase to remove my shoes. I can hear someone moving heavily through the kitchen and wonder briefly if it's the illusive Tobi I've yet to meet. I catch a glimpse of someone's narrow feet from under my lashes as I struggle with the shoe that seems to have decided to weld itself to the bottom of my left foot and stiffen as that someone addresses me.

"Welcome back _idiot._"

The voice I recognise as Sasuke's.

That _can't _be Sasuke.

The voice is light, friendly and thick with some personal humour, on the verge of laughter even.

I chance a glance up at him, readying what I hope is a mollifying expression as an apology for this morning seeing as this is the first time I've seen him alone since then, and am absolutely _floored _by what I find. His face, usually so aloof, so completely devoid of emotion is stretched into a wide grin, the kind that is so big it's actually changed his usual face shape from the perfect oval I'm used to into something rounder. His teeth are straight and meticulously white, a reflection on genuine obsessive compulsion which makes me wince inwardly when I think about just how bad the bathroom faux pas must have been. The spark of light I saw hidden in the dark depths of his eyes yesterday seems to have been pulled to the forefront, growing up like a true flame in a coal pit and his shoulders, usually militantly rigid have relaxed so much that he looks languid as he stands there. His face, generally pale, has a hint of colour running over the bridge of the nose.

He actually looks…like a human being.

"S…Sasuke?" I manage in disbelief, not able to fully comprehend that this apparition is the same as the stoic bastard I've come to expect.

For a moment, Sasuke's eyes flick downwards and un-focus making something akin to suspicion flare up inside me. I know that look, though I never expected to see it on someone as anal as this asshole.

Ha! Anal as this asshole is…that's actually funny.

"Nooo, you're supposed to say _bastard! _Then get mad at me," he tells me matter-of-factly and I allow myself a moment to process this, reaching down to finally succeed in tugging my shoe off whilst keeping my eyes fixed firmly on him. It is a pretty accurate sum up of how our conversations usually go I suppose…

I flex my sore feet and for some unknown reason, this seems to make Sasuke giggle.

Yeah, Sasuke just giggled, I have officially entered the twilight zone.

This is just plain weird.

I watch him as he sways slightly, still obscenely graceful for someone who is clearly out of it and frown, deciding that he's either drunk or high and feeling seriously uncomfortable because it has to have something to do with the shower thing this morning or the conversation with his brother this afternoon…unless something else happened since I've been at work which is entirely plausible if this bastard was himself in the general vicinity of the public.

"Sasuke, are you drunk?" I ask him seriously.

I regard him as his eyes fall to half mast and his body angle changes so he's sort of leaning up against the insubstantial door frame. The huge smile on his face becomes more reserved, like a smug smirk which is somehow only slightly more in character than the huge grin. Usually, his smirk is full of self-assured superiority but this…this expression is actually kind of lewd. I sort of feel like he's looking through my clothes at the moment with some sort of pervo-vision.

"Does it matter if I am?" he asks in the sort of low voice that suggests he has absolutely no qualms about getting drunk on a Monday night.

I can't really claim to be a Sasuke expert after having known him for all of 3 days but I'm guessing he's not a frequent drinker. He seems like the sort of guy that would rather die of flu than miss a lecture so for him to be more or less plastered on a weekday…

I stand up and face him, marginally annoyed by his slight height advantage until he falls back into the living room in the sort of move that would leave most other people sprawled out on the floor in an undignified heap.

Not this guy.

He drops loosely onto the couch and after a moment's hesitation, I follow. If this is about this morning or about his brother then I kind of feel responsible for his current level of inebriation. The least I can do now is damage control.

I bet Sakura would love to be looking after a drunk Sasuke.

Actually, considering some of the things I accidentally came across in her bedroom last week, perhaps its better he's with me.

"Where are Suigetsu and Tobi?" I ask curiously. Being the guy with the job, I was expecting to be one of the last one's home but I'm beginning to think that this Tobi fellow doesn't actually live here and I suppose with art classes, Suigetsu could be gone at all times of the day.

Interestingly, Sasuke glowers at the floor and shrugs.

"Dunno, out getting laid hopefully," he says and the comment is so casual, so completely blunt and so completely _un-_Sasuke that I can't help laughing. The amusement pools in my stomach, erupting outwards in a guffaw that I don't bother to try and curb and his reaction to this is so priceless that it just makes the whole thing funnier; which of course means that I've almost progressed to full on hysterics.

He actually looks like I've just told him he's won the lottery…or like I've just told him that they're giving away free oral hygiene products up at Campus or something. His eyes are quite literally glowing with elation, like black fire, his lips are parted slightly in awe and if the current circumstances weren't what they are, I'd probably be humbled by this free show of reverence rather than provoked into more spiralling chortles.

Why would my laughter make him _that_ damn happy?

"Dude, that was _not _the response I was expecting," I manage to get out between laughs, warming to the prickly bastard as his face settles into a totally inviting smile. The alcohol in his system seems to have completely eradicated the mental walls. He really is acting like a regular human being…_more _than a regular human being considering most people, when drunk, see fit to simply sneer at me.

"You should get drunk more often," I tell him, gesturing to his easy-going composure.

He gives me an honest to God lazy eye and stands, wobbling his way into the kitchen and returning a moment later with a bottle of fine Captain Morgan's.

"I don't drink," he says very sombrely, punctuating this statement with a long swig straight from the bottle.

Is it wrong to think that's kind of sexy?

Damn I sound just like a fan girl…can't help it when the bastard's being so nice, when I can sit and appreciate the fact that he's just a friendly drunk.

I let out one barked laugh at the comment and lean forwards, invading his personal space just a little to see what he'll do. Like I said before, I'm not really the type to be over-cautious.

"I kinda figured, the stick's shoved too far up your ass for you to be a drinker. Can't imagine you enjoying that kind of wild feeling," I tell him.

Unfortunately, this is obviously the wrong thing to say. The out-of-place but welcome expression on his face darkens considerably and he takes another swig of the rum. By the time he's swallowed, his face is set into the more familiar snarl that I'm used to and I try to swallow my disappointment. I have to remember that he hates me; that we aren't friends at all, that the both of us have rubbed each other the wrong way a lot in a very short space of time. Right now, he's probably remembering how I punched him, invaded his home, his privacy during one of his more intimate moments and then forced my company upon him and his brother…

Whatever I end up doing with this guy, it just ends up going horribly wrong.

"Is…this about this morning?" I ask carefully, preparing to admit to my faults as an accidental peeping Tom but weirdly, he gives me a surprised and slightly disgusted look, like I've insulted him.

What, is he some sort of closet exhibitionist? It _would _explain why an anal guy like him left the door unlocked…

"No, I have nothing to hide," he says proudly, puffing out his chest slightly and of course, following those words, practically an invitation I'll have you know, my mind is suddenly riddled with high definition flashback images.

The spray of the hot water clinging to the ends of his dark hair like smoky crystals, dripping onto the pale slate of his back and running into the indent at the base of his spine. The pert ass, sculpted and perfect, the slight twist in the muscles of his torso as he turns and then the flash of heat running through the darkness of his eyes like lightning in the middle of the night. The flat set to his stomach, the hard lines of his hips running down into his groin.

"True enough," I admit with a smile.

I speculate in wry amusement as that comment filters through his drink addled brain and take a moment to work myself up to asking about the next possible reason for this impromptu drunkenness. If he's getting back into a good mood, I'm not exactly eager to bring him down. It's not like I'll get to see friendly Sasuke often after all.

"So if this isn't about what happened this morning, does it have something to do with Ita-

I don't exactly pride myself on being able to predict people. Not having friends will make you a little slow to pick up that sort of social prowess but even if I was a social genius, I never in a million years would have imagined that Sasuke Uchiha of all people would see fit to kiss me mid-sentence whilst drunk on a Monday evening.

For one startled moment, I can register nothing but absolute shock and the stuttering end of my sentence. I freeze, breathing hard against him, watching as his eyes flutter closed while mine stay resolutely open. This close, I can see the absolutely perfect set of his features and the rubicund tint flushing across his high cheekbones.

Then the smell of him assaults me, that intoxicating mix of plant life and paper and something seems to _move _within me in such an uncomfortable way that I have to squirm, closing my mouth against the ending of his brother's name and inadvertently causing a thrum of friction to ignite between his mouth and mine.

Suddenly, I have to put everything I have into not picturing him behind that slightly obscured shower curtain this morning whilst experiencing this. That could only end in embarrassment for both of us.

It's only when I feel the swipe of his tongue against my bottom lip and an electric explosion seems to ricochet through my body that I see fit to shove the bastard away.

Because I have no idea why he's doing this.

If this is a continuation of that game of sexual chicken, I really don't appreciate it.

It's not like he's my first kiss but I've never _ever _felt so…

My hands are glued to his shoulders and my muscles are absolutely taut, almost like I'm trying to hold back a speeding bullet train though the guy sitting in front of me probably weighs less than I do.

I just can't figure this out.

We're not even friends…he hates me but we were starting to get along and then he…

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" I ask him, allowing a hint of venom to creep into my voice, a warning for him to drop the bastardry before this gets out of hand though who it would get out of hand for I can't say and he…

He…

Before he can say anything, the lock in the front door clicks and his face goes so white it's almost grey. I can feel my own eyes widen in mild surprise and before I can really filter through the complexities of my own reactions to what's happened and to the interruption, I've shot off of the couch and am standing behind the newcomer who just so happens to be Suigetsu.

The guy hasn't even managed to remove his coat.

He gawks at Sasuke in confusion and then slowly turns his head so he's looking at me with wide, unreadable eyes.

Right about now, my insides feel like they're on fire.

Why am I overreacting to this?

With all the force I can muster, I throw the infamous pointing finger straight out at Sasuke who hasn't moved an inch since I threw him off me.

"He kissed me!" I yelp at Suigetsu, at once irritated and mortified that my voice is a few octaves higher than usual.

There is a moment of pained silence where Suigetsu stiffens for a moment and then relaxes. The confusion on his face seems to disperse into a slightly apologetic smile. It's a far cry from the reaction of outrage I was expecting and it provokes a feeling of indignation to bubble up in my heated guts…

"Drunk Sasuke?" Suigetsu asks calmly, pulling his coat off and hanging it up before sidling into the living room in full view of the lip rapist and indicating the bottle of rum still gripped in Sasuke's hand. Almost imperceptibly, Sasuke's grasp on the glass bottle tightens.

Sasuke sort of looks like his face has just been melted off and then badly reconstructed. The general structure is there but the expression is all wrong, kind of like the plastic surgeon studied a picture rather than the person behind that perfect face if you get what I mean.

It sounds weird…but it's actually the most accurate way to describe his expression.

"Sorry Naruto," Suigetsu is saying, turning so he has me in a better view. "I forgot to warn you that this guy tends to be a bit of a kissing fiend when drunk. You're not the first victim, don't worry about it."

Oooooh…that explains a lot…

Wait…what?

"A…kissing fiend?" I repeat in a weighted voice, allowing the sting of humiliation to resonate through my gut.

I really did overreact.

Big time.

I probably need to think about this, about why I flew off the handle so hard. Kissing someone should not be a big deal; it's never been a big deal before and even if it was Sasuke, even after what happened this morning…

Ugh…

A kissing fiend.

With no real conscious effort, I fall back to lean against the window, pushing my hand up into my face to hide my mortification and massage my temples all at once. I have no idea what this must look like to Sasuke…to Suigetsu…

I must look like some dithering lip virgin.

"I said I'd move in here so long as you guys weren't a house full of serial molesters," I babble out incoherently, annoyed with myself more than anyone else for acting like some prude when this obviously didn't mean a thing.

I can't look at Sasuke.

Suigetsu seems to read into this comment too much, throwing his hands up and gesturing wildly at me to calm down.

"Seriously, Sasuke's normally the stand-offish bastard you're used to. It's just different when he's drunk, watch!"

Before I can really protest to assure him that I get it, Suigetsu's pressed his lips to Sasuke's and…

…and Sasuke _hasn't _punched him into the wall.

Though, he doesn't exactly look happy to have Suigetsu in such a position either.

Hm.

When they break apart, I actually risk looking at Sasuke only to find the usually prideful prick looking caught between a mixture of tumultuous anger and unfathomable hilarity. It's like the alcohol infused good mood he was in is warring with the need to react as he normally would to this sort of thing.

Watching the play of weirdness on his face just makes me feel drained.

Suddenly, I don't care that kissed me, I don't care that he's a crazy drunk or that he felt the need to get drunk on a weekday possibly because of me and my idiocy. I'm too tired and this whole thing is too…confusing.

"I'm going to bed," I grumble by the way of a conclusion to all this insanity and, ignoring Suigetsu's protests and Sasuke's marked silence, I trudge out into the hallway, deciding that I'll nap and then have some dinner later. Hopefully by then, Sasuke will have sobered up a bit and won't try to lip lock with me again.

A kissing fiend.

Did he even enjoy kissing me? Will he even remember it?

Like I will?

Just as I'm about to close my bedroom door behind me, I hear the sound of a door being opened downstairs and a voice I've never heard before joins the low tenor of Sasuke and Suigetsu's hushed conversation. I realise immediately that this must be Tobi who's been here all along it seems.

"Did I hear something about Sasuke giving out free kisses?"

* * *

_Ever been kissed against your will by someone you weren't aware that you actually liked? Ah, the throes of youth…or something…_


End file.
